UNHOLY SERIES BOOK #1 PART 1

/*NOTE: This manuscript is still pretty raw. It's a work in progress. If you have any suggestions or reccomendations for improvements or if you see anything lacking feel free to contact me...I'm always looking for ways to improve it. I will be adding new chapters as they are written*/


Chapter 1



“I don’t care, I wanna kill this scum” Kris said angrily his blaster pointed directly at the

face of the tubby, blue skinned alien sitting in the fetal position at his feet.

The alien looked up at his captor through his arms that were now covering his face defensively.

“I d-didn’t do it. Tell them it wasn’t me”

“What wasn’t you, smart ass?”

“He thinks you’re here to kill him on behalf of the Dark Lord.”

“Well I guess that’s one way to put it. I’m definitely gonna kill him. More cuz’ of his

disloyalty to his own people in serving the tyrant….Hey, Aaron! Weren’t most of the

Mokse massacred? That makes this even more pleasurable. Think of all the people you

betrayed while I shoot you.” Kris sneered, looking down his nose at the poor confused

Mokse.

“I hate Aaridians. Say cheese, tubby” He began to tighten his finger on the trigger.

“KRIS! What are you doing? We’re freedom fighters, not executioners, let him be. He’s

harmless to us now”

‘Harmless? How the hell do you figure that? He’s seen my face.”

“Then wear a cloak with a hood next time. One day we won’t be able to destroy
surveillance recordings and then what will you do?”

The Mokse captive was quiet now, his eyed widened visibly as he realized that the men

that stood before him weren’t military. He figured that at least he had better chances of

survival since Dren apparently hadn’t ordered his execution.


“P-Please. Don’t kill me. I only do what they tell me to. I-I’m not even good at that.”

The tall man that stood before him snickered. He wore a uniform almost identical to his

captive’s, with a long grey overcoat draped over. On his shoulders lay grey and gold

striped epilates. These were the hallmark of a very high ranking Aaridian official.

“Kris, Let him be” Aaron stepped in between his friend and the frightened mokse who sat

quivering on the cold steel floor. His face was partially obscured by a brown hooded cloak.

“Easy for you to say, you aren’t the one working from the inside.”

“If you kill him then you’ll be no different from the dictator we’re

fighting against.”

“Why the hell are you protecting him? Look at him! He’s an Aaridian military officer”,

He waved his blaster as he spoke, trying in vain to convince his companion that keeping

the terrified mokse alive would be a mistake, “He’s just another mass murderer, ‘cept

he’s a coward on top of it.”

“ We can serve our cause better without his blood staining our consciences, besides, he

doesn’t seem to be interested in fighting us. He’s unarmed and frightened.”

“There wont be any blood to stain, cuz’ one shot from this baby will cauterize the hole it

makes in his oversized blue head”

Aaron drew back his burlap hood so that he could look into the eyes of his companion.

He was very young for being such a wealthy revolutionary. His hair was long and

unkempt, dirt smeared across his face. He reeked of homelessness. Aaron certainly didn’t

appear as the wealthy son of a few of Aaridia’s most respected senators. He didn’t want
to either. His parents had been murdered along with the rest of the senate when Lord

Dren took power. Aaron had worked hard since his parents deaths to get to where he was

today. Motivated by his loss and the enslavement and genocide that Dren had utilized to

secure his rule, Aaron had founded ‘Obelisk’, the only surviving resistance movement.

He and his companions worked silently towards their goal of liberating the people under

the tyrant’s rule. Many of Aarons companions had sympathized with the cause, having

lost loved ones to slavery or untimely deaths. Some were motivated by economics after

Dren used his military to take control of major corporations that they had spent their lives

building from the ground up. They were all on different paths to the same summit. As

much as Aaron had suffered through his own loss, and witnessing the countless losses of

others, for some reason he could not place blame on the shoulders of the frightened

Mokse that lay before him. He held his friends shoulder in his hand as he spoke

emphatically.

“Kris, it isn’t him that you’re angry with. Killing him won’t get us closer to our real goal.

Let him be.”



The young human sighed, realizing that this was one argument he wasn’t going to win.

He scowled at the Mokse, who was still looking up at him anxiously.

“Fine, lets do what we came to do”

He holstered his weapon and turned around no longer paying any attention to the last

surviving Aaridian Military officer left in the entire outpost, still seated on the

floor behind him. They were in a large room with control panels

lining the walls, a set of blast doors to their right had been blown open, a gaping hole in

their place. Smoke filled the far end of the room where there was another large chasm in

the wall. Masked men were moving crates on forklifts towards the exit they had created.

The floors were littered with the bodies of the dead Aaridian soldiers that had attempted

to hold them off.

“Alright, speed it up, this equipment ain’t gonna pack and move itself y’know” Kris

stood in front of the workers on a scaffold, his arms folded across his chest. He was

probably the only person that could command the respect of the resistance

operatives that stood before him, AND wear an Aaridian military uniform. This was

because Kris worked for the Aaridians when he wasn’t actively helping the resistance

try to overthrow the corrupt government. As deputy chief of Aaridian Intelligence, the

information he provided had been invaluable in helping avoid imprisonment, and to

locate military outposts with little or no security, such as the one they were standing in,

on the planet known as Sor. He watched as Aaron picked up the last crate, helping load it

into the freighter that hovered outside over a cocktail of snow and ice.

“C’mon Kris, time to go. We have a long journey ahead of us”

Kris shook his head.

“I’m gonna have to go my own way, I gotta be back at the capital in the next couple

hours,” He waved at his friend,” go ahead without me. I’ll talk to ya when I talk to ya.”

Aaron nodded climbing into the back of the vehicle, now loaded with stolen armor and

weapons.

“Wait! Wait! You cant leave me here!” The Mokse finally spoke as he ran towards Aaron

waving his arms.

“Oh hell naw!” Kris said, reaching out and grabbing the alien by the shirt as he tried to

run past him

He gritted his teeth as he pulled him in close to his face, sneering menacingly.

“Where the hell do you think you’re goin?”

“If you leave me Lord Dren will have me killed anyway. I’m as good as dead so go

ahead and shoot me, or don’t. I’m not staying here either way.”

“Oh so now you want me to shoot you, eh?” Kris smiled cruelly as he reached down with

a free hand and drew his blaster.

“Damnit Kris, I thought we’d already been over this”

Kris wheeled around, still holding the blue-skinned alien by the collar of his uniform in

one hand.

“He says he wants me to kill him, I’m just doin’ him a favor.”

“Yeah, uh-huh. Put it away. We can take him with us, and then you won’t have to worry

about your identity.”

“No , of course not, cuz then

all we’ll have to worry about is this bastard sabotaging our movement from the

inside. It’s a pretty damn effective strategy. I should know.”

“For what purpose? He wont be working for Dren, that’s for sure. The maniac will have

him killed because he failed to hold us off. ”

Kris paused, glaring at his friend for a moment as though he was still deciding whether or

not he wanted to shoot the tubby alien that he still held by the collar. After a long

moment he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

“Fine take him, then” Kris released the Mokse, pushing him towards Aaron. The poor

alien stumbled backwards losing his balance.

Kris reached into his pocket, pulling out a cigarette. He began to light it as he walked

towards the gaping hole that led outside, behind him,he could hear Aaron helping the

Mokse to his feet.

“Kris, wait a sec-“

“Save it, I got business to attend to. We’ll talk later.”

He walked out into the deep snow before Aaron could say another word, looking for a

small ship that hadn’t been damaged

during their attack.

“I thought he was leaving” He muttered to himself as he walked around the abandoned

military spaceport. He looked up and watched as the freighter carrying Aaron and the

supposed Aaridian dissident coupled with several smaller

transports ascended into the heavens.

“Why the hell does he always have to be all noble? Just once I’d like to see him

really lose his cool”

He shook his head as he walked towards a seemingly undamaged ZFS-956U transport,

his hands in

his pockets, steadily puffing his cigarette as it hung from his bottom lip with his overcoat

trailing in the wind behind him. He broke into the vehicle, managing to hotwire it with

ease. After seating himself in the cockpit he flipped a few switches causing the transport’s

engines to roar to life. Kris set his course and then leaned back in his

chair, folding his arms behind his head as he began to rise into the sky. He headed to the

planet Stetnor where he would abandon the commandeered ship for one of his own,

before finally heading to the Aaridian Capital.


Chapter 2




“Why wasn’t I informed sooner, general?”

The tall, deathly pale, hairless man spoke to his second in command through his gritted,

pointy teeth. Dren was the most feared man in the galaxy. He was the last of a species

known as the Triskii. Besides their grotesque appearance they were known for their lust

for blood. Often cold and calculating, their telekinetic abilities coupled with superhuman

strength had made them formidable adversaries. Lord Dren stood face to face with

Koor Loomsk. A hint of delight betrayed his black, soulless eyes. The man was

suspended from the ground, choking as he clawed at his throat trying desperately to pry

away the invisible hands that gripped him.

“We thought the alarms may have been triggered accidentally,” He whispered hoarsely to

his master, “The only personnel in the vicinity w-where in a convoy heading to that base,

I wanted them t-to check into it before I wasted a-any of your time, mi’ Lord.”

The Dark Lord smiled cruelly at his subordinate as he broke his concentration dropping

the man to his knees. Koor sat there, still holding his throat and gasping for breath.

“Do not think that you are above the consequences for failure”

He turned to a table where a half dozen men sat, wearing grey uniforms, most of them

high ranking in the Aaridian government.

“I want those responsible hunted down, and brought to me personally” His eyes settled on a woman

with short dark hair seated at his right. “Quin, you and Koor will share responsibility in

coordinating this. I need not remind you what will happen if you should fail. “

Koor shook his head, still gasping for breath.

“There is one more thing, mi’ Lord. He gripped the table, pulling himself to his feet as he spoke.

“We have not found the body of Sal Dorvsky, I assume he was either captured or he may

have been a coconspirator. His is the only body at the outpost that hasn’t been recovered”. Several people in the crowded room audibly gasped at the

mention of a possibility of an ‘inside job’.

“This is unacceptable. When you find him, kill him immediately. Bring his dismembered

corpse back and we will display it, so that ALL of the people will know the consequences

of failure.”

“Adjourned”, he wheeled around, his black cape rippling as he walked towards the door,

his gloved hands held to his sides, Koor following closely behind.

Quin watched with amusement as he groveled pathetically to his master.

She was an ambitious woman, and Koor’s recent failures had given her an

interesting idea as to how she would obtain her next promotion….

















Chapter 3


Marcos stood and watched as the men began to quickly unload the vehicles in which they

had arrived. Crate after crate was moved to the storage room that lay beyond two doors

near the computer at which he usually sat. He watched in disbelief as a robed Aaron

approached him, accompanied by a blue skinned alien that wore an Aaridian

Military uniform.

“What the…., are we now providing lodging for the Aaridians?”

“Don’t get started with me, Marc, I’ve already had to deal with Kris”.

The bearded man laughed.

“I bet you did. So would you mind explaining his presence to me?”

He motioned to the former Aaridian officer that now stood in front of him fidgeting

nervously.

“His name, is Sal Dorvsky. He was forced into the service in the first place. I doubt that

he’ll be any trouble. It isn’t like he has anywhere to go anyway.”

“Hey I’m standing right here you know.”

Marcos ignored him.

“Well, if they’re forcing them into the service now that doesn’t quite explain why this is

the first one you’ve managed to take alive.”

Aaron shook his head.

“No. It does explain it. In all honesty, from what he’s telling me it appears that a lot of

the Aaridian military personnel are unhappy and would dissent, provided they could be

convinced that they would survive it. Dren isn’t a pushover and he routinely massacres

his own military forces, not to mention innocents. Everyone is afraid of him. They fight

to the death because they assume that we’ll kill them or torture them anyways. Everyone

knows Dren would do the same to any surviving soldiers if they had allowed us into his

precious base. He expects them to die for him.”

Marcos shrugged.

“Well, If you trust him then I suppose that’s going to have to be good enough for me. I’ll

tell you this though, I don’t see a lot of our operatives being happy with it.”

“They’ll be fine. We wouldn’t be where we are today if I wasn’t a good judge of

character, am I right?”

Marc thought for a minute, hesitating before finally admitting the possibility that Aaron was right.

He turned to Sal.

“You were saying something a few minutes ago?”

“Never mind. It doesn’t matter now”

Aaron placed his hand on the Mokse’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Alright. Well, I don’t need to tell you that we’re going to watch you closely while

you’re with us. We can’t take too many chances. When we are able to provide safe

passage we can transport you back to your home world. After that, you’ll be on your

own.”

He motioned for Marcos to follow him as he turned and began to walk away.

“Just wait here for a few minutes and I’ll have someone show you to your quarters.”

Marcos turned around, walking towards where he could see Aaron waiting for him.

They walked together through a dark hallway, where the lighting had only been partially

installed. They were in a part of the base that was still under construction. The empty

halls filled with dust, the echoes of their footsteps now deafening in contrast to the eerie

silence that surrounded them, threatening to swallow them alive

Aaron often walked through these deserted halls when he needed to pass important

information to a trusted confidante.

“So…..what do we need to talk about?”

Marcos was short and thin. A full beard grew from his thin face, making him look

slightly less underfed. He stood in front of his friend, his head slightly tilted as he tried to

read the expression on Aaron’s face.

“Listen, we still have a lot of work to do. I want you to be in charge of this base when

I’m gone. Coordinate with Kris, contact me only in case of an emergency.”

“and what of the Mokse?”

“I’ll keep him with me.”

“This was what you wanted to talk about?”

A sigh of relief escaped him as he chuckled to himself.

“thought you had some kind of bad news for me.”

“Not today. We still have a lot of work to do though, so I think I’m going to go help em’

unload our new equipment. Have someone unpack and organize it while I’m gone”

Marcos nodded and Aaron promptly wheeled around and departed towards the entrance

where his operatives continued to unload crates filled with weapons and many

technologies that had been previously unavailable to them. They would prove invaluable

in waging the guerilla war that would soon ensue.

He walked to the back of a green transport vehicle and helped his men finish unloading.

When he was done he walked towards his quarters having decided that he was going to

get some sleep. He had been thoroughly drained by the days events, the raid on the

outpost at Sor had gone surprisingly smooth, though his exhaustion was a testament to

the fact that it had been stressful nonetheless. As he approached his quarters he heard a

high pitched chirp, which repeated itself at regular intervals, the sound of his comlink

ringing reverberating in the distance. He sighed, irritated at the idea that his slumber may

be interrupted before it had even begun. He reached down and answered his comlink

anyway.

“Talk to me”

“Hey Aaron, look, I don’t have much time.”

“yeah?”

“Dren’s got his people looking for you, they’re trying to figure out who you are, who WE

are.”

“So? Don’t freak out. We both knew they’d investigate it.”

“I’m not, just be careful. It’s both our asses on the line. You need to gather more support

before this catches up with you. He’s ordered me to dispatch intelligence officials to ALL

confederate systems, and he issued a bulletin offering substantial awards to all those who

turn in citizens plotting against him.”

“Well, that certainly complicates things. How am I supposed to gather support if

everyone knows to be on the lookout for anyone trying to rally the people?”

He was animated as he spoke, obviously frustrated.

“I’ve delayed the ones being sent to Femm. You’ll need to be quick about it because I’ll

need to send them on their way before it raises any eyebrows. There is some Aaridian

presence there but they shouldn’t pose a problem. They haven’t been alerted to our

activities as far as I can tell”


“Ok. I’m going to go ahead and make a move on that after I get some rest.”

“Look if you’re gonna do it, do it now. I’m not risking exposure by withholding their

orders so you can snooze.”

He sighed, growing more irritated by the minute.

“Fine, so when will I see you again?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll be able to give you any useful information from where I am. I’ll be

in touch.”

“Wait, I need you to pass all information to Marcos here, at this base. Only contact me if

there is an emergency.”

“Alright, bye. I gotta go.”

“Talk to ya later, Kris.”

He pocketed his comlink and sighed at the prospect of another sleepless day.

He knew that he had to do what was necessary now regardless of whether or not it

deprived him of his sleep. He turned and walked back towards where he had come from

to organize a crew to accompany him.