Fan Fiction ❯ The Nexus Files. ❯ Chapter One. That fateful meeting not in the bathroom. ( Chapter 1 )

The water trickled down his marble white flesh; his long, long green hair slicking to his back and buttocks, curving around his thighs temptingly. He moved back, a soft sigh escaping his lips as his hands gathered up that hair around his face and pushed it back, eyes closed in silent harmony.

The watcher’s boots squeaked on the tiles and a curse broke the atmosphere of the wet-dream.

Mismatched eyes flew open and the bather turned his head to the interruption.

“I thought I told you to stop this little ritual?”

~.~.~.~

Chapter One. That fateful meeting not in the bathroom.

~Story by Sweetdeily.
~.~.~.~

I woke from a very nice dream hard and sweating. My blankets were tangled around my legs in knots and my hair was bunched at the sides with tangles. If you have hair as long as mine, you know what a pain in the ass the tangles were going to be. The source of my rude awakening was a small device located just above my head, now that I was awake, it didn’t stop shrilling out its foul calls.

WREEEEP! WREEEEP! WREEEEP!

“Turn off alarm clock.” I growled into the empty room. The shrilling stopped straight away and a pleasant female voice told me good morning and the time. It was seven o’clock on twenty-four-hour time. Unfortunately I’d just gotten back from a job in the Besia system where days ran on thirty three hour time, this was earlier than I could handle. I rubbed my face with my palms and hoped for illness.

“Prepare shower,” I paused, looking down at myself, “make it a cold one.”

“Towels are located on the towel rack. A fresh suit has been made available in your closet. More soap is required, do you desire a note sent to the cleaning crews?”

“Yes, send it on low priority to the cleaners.” I gave such specific instructions because last time I had run out of shampoo the computer had sent out a ship-wide notice with alarms at full-volume. There were one or two bugs that came with a basic computer A.I operating my ship. Something to do with too many circuit interfaces; butter and toast apparently. I wasn’t a techie, I was a commander. Best to leave the technology I was commanding to those who understood it.

After taking care of things in the shower and getting dressed it was seven-thirty, I was still half undead, but I had to be at the bridge in half an hour and the computer was undoubtedly making me a surprise breakfast. I like surprise breakfasts.

I exited my bedroom to find my new Captain, Horus Trent, at my kitchen table. Well, I did say it would be a surprise breakfast and there are a few bugs in the computer program.

“I take it your not here for the eating?” I ask as dryly as I can. Horus doesn’t have a sense of humor. I think it would kill him to laugh. I sort of hope it would kill him to laugh; I don’t like him much.

“What do you mean, sir?” Horus asks.

“Oh, I have surprise breakfasts, and even though you haven’t been around long enough to see some of the stuff the old girl pulls, she does pull them. Computer, is Horus Trent my breakfast this morning?”

The sound of circuits beeping overhead made me worry that the A.I. had to think about its reply. “No, Horus Trent has not been selected for your menu today. Would you like a change of menu?”

“No. But… what is my breakfast?”

“Meri nest eggs scrambled with salt and herbs, toast with butter and jam on it, java and the morning paper.” The computer informs me.

I shrug, it sounds edible. “Alright, thank you, computer,” sitting at my table I glance at Horus, “so, what was so important it couldn’t wait half an hour?”

Horus grimaces, which I don’t think he has to try for, and picks up my morning paper, handing it to me. “See for yourself… sir.”

I raise an eyebrow and look at the front cover. The title alone stops me from yawning. “‘High Commander Whinston Gern dead, Nexus to blame…’ Ray Nexus killed Whinston? It doesn’t sound like his usual line of work.”

I pick up my fork while I continue to read and take a small slice of the Meri eggs. It tastes pretty good, although I can’t help but raise an eyebrow over the article; Whinston was overseer of the UGF reserves, why would a creature like Ray Nexus- the most feared space pirate in the galaxy- take time out of his political death counts to nab Whinston? Personal grudge, maybe?

“You’re taking it pretty calmly, sir. Whinston was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?” Horus prods. Nosey bastard.

I shrug. “Oh, yes, we used to play cards when I was stationed with him. It says he was killed with a plasma blast… even if all the other evidence points to a Nexus job, that alone tells me it’s a fake.”

“A fake? You don’t think Nexus did it?” Horus seems to jump on this. Like he’s ecstatic that I’m talking about the case. He’s laying it on thick enough for me to know what he’s trying to push at, and I’m not going to shift in his direction because one man is dead.

“Yes, if Nexus is killing someone, he always does it with a sword, never a gun or poison, or any other means. Haven’t you read the history cases? I have never seen a single kill accredited to him that’s ever been with anything but a sword. Besides, Nexus usually avoids UGF members, why would he go after a reserve High Commander of all people? I don’t buy the idea of a personal grudge, no one even knows if he’s real.”

“Still, the investigators must have some strong reason to believe it was Nexus or they wouldn’t be putting it down in writing, sir.” He blurts out.

I chew the last of the Meri eggs and shake my head, swallowing before I talk again. “Nonsense. They’re just jumping on the idea that Nexus finally hit a UGF official. High Commander Chlancy would move heaven and earth to get another chance to be on the Nexus squads. He’s in it for the chase, not the murder. Not that I’m surprised; they say that Chlancy pissed Nexus off and the man lost his arm when his ship was blown to itty bitty pieces. If Nexus is really a tangible being, that is. I think Chlancy wants to pin someone or something down as the pirate god and put an end to the whole scandal. He’s just doing it wrong this time. He won’t succeed in this case.”

“When High Commander Gern was on the Nexus squads he didn’t exactly do a bang up job. His men were in the pool rooms all the time. You would find someone like Nexus if you were High Commander on his squad…” I detected a hint of malice in Horus’ tone but dismiss it.

And the truth rears its ugly head. I figured he was aiming at this approach again. Persistent bastard.

Whinston didn’t care who he didn’t shine the shoes of. He was good at commanding the reserves, rest him in peace. The Nexus squad was a bit of a joke to me. I barely believed the man even existed, for all the crap that was pinned on him. A comet hits a planet and suddenly its Nexus’ doing? Lords all powerful! Even if I was on that joke of an assignment, I would find what everyone else finds. Nothing. Nexus, if he is real, isn’t still running around the galaxy doing the stuff that’s pinned to his name. A person doesn’t live two-hundred something years!

“That’s got nothing to do with this. Ahh, Captain, its just hogs-wallowop. Hardly worth proper discussion. The point is, the man is dead and no one cares who did the job.”

“Yes sir.” Horus gives me a bow. “Shall I see you on the bridge in ten minutes?”

“If you don’t; assume Nexus got me.”

He cracks a smile at this. An actual smile. I wait for him to go into heart-arrest but he manages to walk out the door without having a seizure. I shake my head and finish my breakfast quickly.

I can’t believe Horus. He comes in here, trying to get me excited about a High Commander’s seat being cleared so that I’ll make a move for it. When I’m ready for High Commander I’ll be promoted, that new idiot has a lot to learn about how things work on my ship. A commander is a suitable position for me. I’m in control of my own squad; I only have to report to the High Commanders what I’m doing and take their missions once in a while, High Commanders…lords, the crap they have to sprout out of their asses.

“Computer, upgrade the level of security for access to my room. I don’t want anyone but myself entering without warning from now on.”

I wonder why they assigned Horus to my ship? He’s a decent captain, but they know I don’t like any right or left wings in my crew. The Giant, for the jobs it does, should always remain indifferent to any politics in the UGF. Especially for the job it does. Then again, if I’ve ever held a negotiation that actually ended for the other side, I can’t bring it up to memory. But the point is; we can’t have anyone telling our clients what’s wrong or right and what positions should be accepted or not.

It’s a shame about Whinston, he was a good man, helped me get into my captain’s position. I suppose he would have died some time, but pity all the same.

I slurp my java down and pick the paper up, intending to read as I walk. I wonder if this is really the work of Nexus? He doesn’t touch the UGF as a rule. Funny, but the pirate avoids our fleets like the plague. Then again, what do I care? I’m not on Nexus squad. Lords I pity those that are, two hundred something years on the man and no-one even knows what he looks like? As I’ve mentioned, I don’t think he really even exists.

“Commander! Good thing I caught you, we’ve got an unregistered craft passing us by. Horus suggests we let it slip through but the standard code is to hail them and find out their registration. We’re gonna’ need your opinion on it.” My favourite lieutenant Larry catches me as I exit my room. Larry is like a little messenger made just for me, he tells me only the relevant information. If I get a reasonable excuse to get rid of Horus, I’m promoting Larry.

Deep in my gut, I get a sudden flash of a very long day ahead of me. “What are their responses to our hails?”

“We haven’t sent one yet, waiting for you, commander.” Larry pauses for air.

“I see. Let’s go to the bridge then, lieutenant.” He bows and heads for the lifts, pressing the button. I follow at a sated pace, skimming through my daily paper. Not much too really report, bad storms on Terra are giving some people communication problems, and the Queen Spirals on Terra Beta were vandalized again. More anti-UGF outcries. Somehow I saw it coming.

I lean against the hand-rail and nod at Larry to take us up. Obediently he clicks the buttons. I press the button on my paper to turn the pages. According to Terran legend there was a time when they cut trees down to make paper out of them. I’ve seen the trees on Terra and I can’t figure out what kind of imbecile would write on circular wood. It just doesn’t hold enough text or bytes. But it is only Terran legend and I’m pretty sure it was originated from this old joke about two men pissing in the forest.

Flipping to the funnies I crack a smirk at the antics of the Nerdvis and the political bad-mouths in the editor’s letters, I spot one from Captain Horus of all creatures and groan, it looks like something from the bloody Heilos Only faction. Lords that faction is a pain in the ass to deal with.

Their political agenda is summed up as the desire to get the Heilos commanders in control of the UGF through any means they can, they have been known to assassinate leaders of opposing parties in the effort to climb the ranks of the UGF pissing pool. If I find out that Horus is a member of their ranks I am getting myself a new captain, discrimination or no.

I like to sleep at night knowing I won’t be attacked because I think Heilos is a hole. Then again, most of the Heilos Only faction hasn’t been to their own goddamn planet and I have.

It is a hole.

“So are you going to the concert on Alpha when we get there tomorrow?” Larry asks. He’s bold for a lieutenant, that’s what I like about him.

I shake my head. “I’m not really a fan of music.”

I can almost hear the eye roll that Larry makes it is that obvious but I ignore it.

Life is easier if my crew just think I have no life rather than I don’t like girl’s music. Lords forbid Shard Cosmica’s songs of all things not to be a fan of. She just doesn’t make my heart beat any different, unlike the rest of the bloody universe.

“You do have plans, don’t you, commander? You’ve given the crew a week off and you’re not going to work, right?”

“I have plans.” I step forward. We’ve reached the bridge.

The doors open and I step out onto the bridge, tossing my paper into the nearby scrambler and taking up my seat on the right of Captain Horus. Larry wanders off to his post quietly.

“Where’s this unregistered ship?” I ask Horus.

He hits a command into his side panel and a second later the details of the ship come up on my screen. Whatever it is, it’s nice. A big ship with quite a lot of firepower as well as some really advanced engines. Probably kids on a joy spin who forgot to validate their license. Damn rich people are full of themselves. Then again, my ship is usually mistaken for a small moon, so I don’t have many stones to throw at these children for having something nice.

“Sirs, I’ve just scanned more data, the computer says the ship has been heavily damaged and most of its engines are offline. To boot there are several leaks on two of the levels. Whatever she is, she’s been hit with a heavy thumping.” Larry announces from his post.

“Open up a line. See who’s aboard and find out what happened.” I lean back in my seat, accepting a stack of papers from Horus. The maintenance crews would probably jack a Meri for the specs this ship has. I glance at the papers Horus has handed me, a few letters from other commanders; a recommendation for a new lieutenant, and reports on various things in the Giant herself.

“Opening a line now.”

My screen blurs for a moment before a fuzzy face flashes on it. The reception is horrible; I can barely make out any features. “Hello, who is this?” A voice from the other end asks. Their communication receptors must have been blown out.

“This is Commander Alaria Nestra of the United Galaxy Federation, your ship is unregistered. I would like to hear your excuse before I blast you down.”

“Fuck, it’s the UGF. Someone get the goddamn captain!” The face turns from the screen and I can hear yelling and shouting in the background before the feed suddenly goes crystal clear and I’m staring at a very pale face and a single red eye. Weird, I wonder if they have some sort of frequency disablers? Those are highly illegal. Looking at the ship in a new light I’m pretty sure I can see some other illegal parts. This is starting to not look like a dumb rich kid’s rig.

“Can I help you…? Commander Alaria, is it?” The voice that addresses me doesn’t hold any emotion in it, no malice or fear… just this deep coldness. His voice isn’t the kind that I would want to hear in a back alley, it seems to promise violence for breathing wrong near it. What kind of creature is this that has a crewmember that’d swear on the com and yet be so calm themselves? I frown, attention focusing on this captain. No name or sign of UGF rankings. Then again, all I can see is his face, up very close.

“I am Commander Alaria Nestra of the UGF, why is your ship unregistered?”

“Because I never put in a registration code.” His voice is incredibly cold, like he’s not even speaking to me. It’s surprising and I lean forward despite me. Who the hell am I conversing with?

“And why is that? Do you realize it is illegal to pilot an unregistered ship?” I don’t expect him to even care somehow.

His bored red eye stares at me with nothing inside of it, just politely conversing with a UGF planet destroyer.

“Yes I do realize that.”

“And…?”

“And, what? I am busy at the moment Commander, my ship is leaking and the crew can’t breathe in space, so if you have no further questions, good day.” His tone of voice never even changed from the cold disinterest of his first words and I pressed the button to forcefully keep the line open.

“Who are you?”

“Good day.” And then the screen blanked out. Damn, that’s not a normal vessel at all if he could turn the screen off on his end.

“Captain Horus, lock that ship in and bring it into our docking bay. And run some scans on it, I suspect it is using illegal parts.” I release the useless button and get out of my seat, tossing the papers down and heading for the lift. I want to meet the monster owning such a cold voice.

“Yes sir!” Horus said loudly enough so I hear it.

I lean against the handrail once I’m in the lift and ponder the conversation I just had. Other than a few strands of green hair and that red eye, I couldn’t see anything of his face which meant the camera was very close to the speaker. The voice, despite being frigid, sounded rather young, so he could have been a kid on a joy ride or something. Only he didn’t look like he cared if he was having fun or not. And not many rich men don’t register their ship. Besides, captains speaking like that to a commander? He didn’t call me sir once.

My ear buzzes and I twitch, it hurts. “Commander, the unregistered craft is in docking bay six.”

“Good.” I growl. I need to get my ear-piece fixed; the volume is up a lot higher than it should be.

I exit the lift and transfer to a different one. My ship is big enough that lifts are the only means of transport from one area to another, unfortunately; then again, something the size of a small moon is rather large.

I arrive at the docking bay in time to see the ship we’d picked up unfolding its main ramp. There was a squad of armed private’s standing along the doorway to welcome our guests and I nod to one of the private’s as I enter. He hands me his main gun and draws his pistol.

I walk over to the figures descending the ramp and raise an eyebrow. Only two of the crew has come out to greet their abductors. My, this lot is full of themselves. What do they have on their bashed up ship that makes them so confident inside the Giant of all places? Lords I hope it’s not EMPs. I fucking hate EMPs. They always create bugs in the A.I.

The first man down is a red and white creature that upon closer inspection I think is a Saoen, but I can’t be sure. He wears a black body suit and there is a logo printed on the chest, but I can’t read the print from where I stand, his head is covered with a white bandanna and his face is a red and white yin and yang.

Well, it takes all kinds.

The second creature off the ship I think to be a women when I see the thighs at first, then a distinctly male form emerges, but his incredibly long hair doesn’t help the girlish appearance at all. I think I stop breathing when he turns his head and I’m set with a still bored and disinterested red eye staring at me from under a mane of hair. This is the captain?

Their boots clank on the ramp and for the most they seem to be unarmed.

“Is there any reason why you’ve towed our ship in without permission?” The captain raises his voice so I can hear, but the tone is still the same.

“Your ship doesn’t have a registration code; I could just have them blow it up with you in it, if you want…” I offer.

The red and white creature laughs and the pair of them walk across the hall toward me. They stop at a friendly distance and up close I tower over the captain. He’s small and slim, but at the same time a chill runs down my spine from his steady gaze. I look over their uniforms. Neither of them is wearing any weapons and I frown, they have holsters for guns and other defensive items, but no actual items. Why take them off? This denotes a tone of overconfidence that I don’t like. Not one bit.

“If you touch my ship I will kill you.” The captain tells me, still in his cold, bored tone.

I raise an eyebrow. “Now, now, let’s play nice child. What is your name?”

The captain glances at the man accompanying him. Something passes between the two because they turn around and walk back toward the ship. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone flat out avoid me twice when I’ve asked for their name.

I charge up the gun cells and aim for the Saoen’s back. “Take another step and I’ll shoot. Now, tell me your names!”

The Saoen sighs and motions for the captain to step behind him. “You’re going to get on his nerves if you keep this up. We don’t have anything against the UGF and we haven’t taken you guys personally, but if you keep this up, he’s not going to like it. Just let us go and report it as a break-away and we’ll all have a real nice day, you understand?”

I shake my head. I understand all right, I’m pulling the trigger if he tries to threaten me again. “Shut up unless you’ve got something interesting to say, now come back here and surrender to the United Galaxy Federation laws.”

The small captain turns then and I catch a flash of gold under the bangs covering his other eye. His boots click against the metal flooring as he walks up to me, standing close enough that if I pulled the trigger of my gun on him, I’d kill him instantly.

“Listen human. I’m not having a good day. I’ve had three assassins blow the shit out of my poor baby and I have eight crew members to replace. Running into you, after the morning I’ve had, is not making me any happier. So don’t fuck with me and I’ll leave you all alive. This is a real nice ship; I wouldn’t test my patients for beauty, because people are always finding out how truly short it is.”

Is his other eye chromatic? I move my gun and use the barrel to brush the bangs away from the right side of his face. A golden eye focuses on me, the same kind of look in this one as is in his red eye. He tilts his head to the left in what looks like a habit and one of his hands comes up and pushes the gun away from his face.

“What?” He asks, still in his lovely, cold tones.

“That’s a chromatic eye, isn’t it?”

He nods.

I bring the gun back up to his face. “Where’d you get it done? Chromatic surgery has been outlawed for the past fifty years.”

“Even before it was outlawed it was pretty frowned upon.”

“Captain!” The red and white man hisses at the captain.

Red eye turns his head away from me and looks at his subordinate. He sighs without much emotion and reaches up to my gun. I think he is going to push it away again, but he keeps reaching until he hits the read-out screen and closes his hand around it. The next second the gun is wrenched from my grasp. I stumble forward, trying to grab it before the captain throws it away, but he moves faster than most normal people do and the gun is on the ground before I can reach it in time. The captain puts a hand on my chest and pushes me away from him. I realize almost comically that I just invaded his personal space. How strange.

“Fry their circuits Frexi.” He turns his emotionless expression back to me and inclines his head to the side as if mocking me.

“Yes sir!” The Saoen raises both his hands in the air.

The ship behind us opens one of its rear holders and a big round shell hits the ground.

EM fucking P.

White energy explodes from the shell and runs through everything. I can hear a dozen guns powering themselves down and then everything goes to hell.

The gravity stabilizers go off-line and I find myself drifting up into the air. Sighing I propel myself down at the captain and wrap my right arm around his neck and my left arm around his waist, pulling him backward with me. “Even if your colorful crewmate gets back to your ship without the gravity, your systems are fried too.”

“My, my, there is intelligent life out there. Ahh, dear commander, you don’t seem to grasp the beauty of the situation though. My ship is small, with many back-up systems in case I pull this stunt. It will be online quicker than your miniature moon will be. And when the gravity is finally restored to your ship, I think you’ll want to let go of me.”

“I don’t know about that, red eye.”

The captain sighs tiredly and reaches up to my arm around his neck, he grabs me and shifts my hold, pushing back into my body and lifting me up in the air. I curse as I’m suddenly floating on my back and his feet press at my shoulders.

“As Frexi loves to say, there’s a reason why the name Nexus brings a shiver down your spine. I’m not an idiot, commander. Next time you see an unregistered ship, try reading the name on the side of it for hints about its crew… the phantomonia is badly damaged, but she’s not defenseless.” And then he kicked my shoulders and the momentum sent me spinning away toward the hanger doors.

I hit the doors with a thud. The world goes grey for a few seconds but then I regain my senses. Everyone is slowly sinking toward the ground, which means the gravity stabilizers are back online. I lean forward and push the doors with my legs, floating toward the other side of the room.

“Are you saying that you’re Nexus?” I yell down to the red eyed man.

“I’m not saying anything, commander. I am who I am. If you think that the name Ray Nexus is a legend just like everyone else, all the better for me. Don’t chase me if I’m not real, commander. And don’t pick a fight with the phantomonia because you think I’m bluffing. I don’t have that big a sense of humor.”

I almost crack a smile at that, but then I realize that Nexus is floating toward his ship and the bloody thing is powered up and ready to go. Well he wasn’t bluffing on one thing; he knew that his little toy would be online before mine.

“Nexus is a fairy-tale. He died two hundred years ago most likely! Someone of your smarts shouldn’t be just a copy-cat. Get your own style!” I yell at him.

I wish he’d tell me his real name, just to have something to toy with.

“I’d feel insulted, if you weren’t just a childish human throwing his parting insults at me.”

“Chromatic eyes don’t make you more than human!”

“No, but I’ve lived long enough to stop trying to pretend to be less than what I am. Good day, commander. Don’t waste my time next time.”

And then I was on the ground and slowly starting to feel the weight of standing fall back down on me.

“Commander! The bay doors have been locked on! Get out of there!” One of the private’s yells from nearly the other side of the room.

I almost stumble but I manage to start running for the exit door.

The door swishes shut behind me just as the bay doors are blown apart with a rocket. The room is submitted to the vacuum that is space and I see some poor private who didn’t quite make it in time being pulled away into death in space. Poor bastard.


~To Be Continued…

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