Chapter 2

“This is Sunguard Special Agent NL-27. Reporting on mission 2719LQV, location Epsilon Indi A 1, termination zone, 17 degrees north. Mission elapsed time 302 hours,” Myan Lami reported. No sound was heard as he spoke; the voice of his message was synthesized from the thoughts in his mind and sent directly to Sunguard headquarters through the communications cortex in his brain. The same would be true for the response. Once it arrived, it would be decoded and directly injected into his thoughts, allowing him to hear the message as if it had been spoken by someone standing right beside him.

Now that the formalities were over, he continued the report in his own words.

“Search grids F-12 and F-13 have been covered in full, but still no signs of the expedition beyond what we found at the initial landing site. During today’s search, I encountered a native animal, seemingly with some level of intelligence, though significantly less than human level. I nevertheless recommend the species be put on the Terran Federation watch list.”

With a mere thought, Lami uploaded the multispectral video his eyes had recorded of his encounter with the large beast. The Sunguard would forward it to the scientific community, ensuring the animal was properly assessed by the xenobiologists who were far more knowledgeable about such matters than he was.

Half a minute later, the reply from Europa came back, crisp and clear in his thoughts.

“Acknowledged, NL-27. Data packet received,” General Dumas confirmed. “Could the creature be responsible for the disappearance of the expedition members?”

“Possible, but unlikely,” Lami replied, after a brief second of consideration. “The expedition was escorted by Sunguard soldiers. Even though they were not biots, they were still armed and well trained. Defending against a creature such as this should not have been difficult for them.”

“And if it was more than just a single animal, sir?” the general queried, trying to look at the problem from all directions. “Could they have been overwhelmed?”

“Again, I cannot prove it did not happen, but I do not see how it is possible.” Lami tried to think of alternatives. “The creatures seem pretty smart, but they are still just animals. Surprising a squad of Sunguard soldiers would take a level of coordination they simply do not have.”

“So we are back to environmental factors as the culprit, sir?”

From twelve light-years away, Lami could hear the frustration in General Dumas’ voice.

“This planet is hazardous to human life,” Special Agent Lami explained. “As bad as things are here, close to the night side, the firestorms on the day side are even worse. While the native animals are adapted to the temperatures and the wind, for a biological Terran to survive here takes a lot of equipment. If any of the gear the expedition needed for their survival failed, they would have been wiped out in a matter of hours.”

The initial landing site had been a jumbled mess of abandoned tents, food canisters, protective gear, and scientific equipment. But the disorganization itself was not proof of any kind of attack—within hours of being abandoned, the hurricane-force winds here would have turned a neatly organized base camp into a scene of chaos and destruction, without the need to invoke malice or predation to explain the disarray.

And whatever evidence there might have been that could have explained the reason behind the disappearance of the Sunguard expedition, the wind and the snow would have erased long ago.

But if it was the environment, where were the bodies?

“This world does not seem worth the effort. I would not mind if we abandoned the planet entirely,” General Dumas admitted with a sigh. “There are hundreds of worlds out there more suitable for colonization than this one.”

The general wasn’t wrong, Lami thought. In an attempt to secure a future for the Terran race, the Federation had started to expand outward again a few centuries ago, when it became clear the Solaris system had an expiration date. Now, worlds as far out as forty light-years or more were being claimed for Terran colonists.

But that was exactly why Epsilon Indi was so interesting—despite the inhospitality of its innermost world, it was close—already well within the sphere of influence of the Terran Federation, close to the infrastructure and resources needed for the establishment of a thriving new colony.

No one knew exactly when the core collapse of Solaris would turn the sun into an irregular nova, but most estimates suggested mankind now had little more than a century left to enjoy their home system. That made time of the essence. If a faraway colony were to fail for some reason, it was unlikely the Terran Federation would bother to allocate the time and resources needed to investigate it and start over. Instead, the colony would probably just be left to its own devices. But this close to the core systems? If something went wrong here, help could safely arrive in just months or even weeks.

If it hadn't been for the environment, Epsilon Indi A 1 would have been perfect. But hazards like these could be overcome. A first colony could be built safely underground, protected from the raging weather above. It could be heated by fusion generators and shielded from the inferno outside by several meters of bedrock. And in time, a stellar shade could be built at the L1 point to cool the day side enough to allow it to be inhabitable. The planet was rich in both resources and energy, making such a project viable if you allowed for a few hundred years of work.

On the other hand, if it hadn’t been for the environment here, the planet would of course already have been colonized centuries ago.

“No,” Lami said, after what felt like a lifetime of considerations. “It is too soon to give up on this world.”

“If you say so, sir,” the general replied. The Special Agent had authority here. If he wanted to continue to look for the missing expedition, whose job it had been to assess the viability of colonizing the planet, he could of course do so.

They appeared out of the fog like specters—first one, then three, six, and finally ten lumbering beasts, slowly and determinedly walking toward Lami, all in complete silence. Had it not been for his infrared vision, he would not have noticed them until they were on top of him. But this time, he was better prepared for the encounter.

He had, however, expected to run into just a lone creature again. But this was a full herd of them.

Lami looked at the faraway silhouettes, trying to assess the threat level before they got too close to him.

Suddenly, he caught his breath—this was no herd.

At the front of the group, a single animal treaded toward him. Behind it, two more animals trudged, forming a perfect triangle with the leader. And behind those two, there was a third line with three creatures in it.

Special Agent Lami was not surprised in the slightest to find that the fourth line that appeared out of the blizzard was made up of four beasts.

They were now close enough for him to start to discern details through the whirling snow. Seated on top of the fearsome animals were tall figures—larger than Terrans—with pink or purple skin and yellow eyes, clad in thick, furry coats swept closely around their imposing bodies. In their hands, they held ornamented spears, twice the length of Lami’s body.

The beast rider at the front of the group waved with his spear in the general direction of the Special Agent, making it clear he wanted to get his attention. Through the wind, the man shouted instructions or commands Lami could not understand. Interestingly, though the alien gave the impression he was technologically primitive, he did not seem surprised to encounter the Terran, nor scared of him.

Which, of course, suggested this was not the first time the large alien had met his species, Lami thought. It now seemed likely the mystery of the missing Sunguard expedition was about to get its explanation.

The leading beast rider dismounted by using the fold between the large animal’s left front leg and its side to slide to the ground, and with him followed the two men from the second line. Slowly, they walked toward Lami, keeping the triangular shape of their formation as they drew nearer to him. All three men kept their spears pointed toward the Sunguard officer, ready to strike at him if he made a move they didn’t approve of.

Of course, throwing a spear against a Sunguard Special Agent would do little to incapacitate him, even if they were to succeed in penetrating the titanium bones of his ribcage or hit him in his more unprotected abdomen. He was, for all practical purposes, immortal. The spear might cause some temporary damage to his internal organs—damage that would need to heal later—but in the heat of the moment, it wouldn't stop him from fighting. All he needed in the next few minutes were his sinew, muscle, and bone to keep moving and defending himself, and the spear would at worst only be able to do damage to a single one of those. Despite the aliens’ larger size and ten-to-one advantage, the outcome of any confrontation was beyond doubt—the Special Agent would come out victorious.

Which was exactly the reason why Myan Lami had no intention of fighting the natives approaching him.

The large aliens surrounded him now. Despite not understanding either their verbal language or their body language, the way they held their spears ready to be thrown at him made it very clear their intent was hostile. Careful not to enrage them further, he slowly lifted his hands in a show of surrender. It was highly doubtful the aliens would recognize the full meaning of the Terran gesture, but at the very least, they would still see that he was unarmed and had no intention to fight them.

At the same time, his brain was working overtime recording and analyzing everything he saw and heard. If he was to communicate with them, he would first need to learn to understand them. That would take time, but for now, every word and gesture he could decipher would take him one step further along the long road toward communication.

The situation was chaotic, and with the three large men talking simultaneously, it was hard to get a feeling for what was being said. But one word was repeated multiple times, making it clear to Lami it was either the name of the group’s leader, his title, his tribe, or his people.

Minvali.

Author's Note

The story you're reading is one of many set in the Lords of the Stars universe I've been creating over the past 30 years, where familiar characters and places reappear, and new favorites await discovery. Check out my profile to explore more stories from this universe.

While Choices of Steel is entirely standalone, I think you’ll particularly enjoy Soldier of Steel, which serves as a prequel to this story, and Conscience of Steel, which is something of a sequel.

Visit the official Lords of the Stars blog for more information about this hard sci-fi universe: https://lordsofthestars.wordpress.com

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