Page 1 of Possessed By the Alien Guard
CHAPTER ONE
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Jillian
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IGLARED AT the computer screen, but the orders remained the same.
“Thank you for your feedback, Lieutenant Jones.We have fully assessed the situation and cannot afford to change tactics at this time.Hold your position and do not engage with the Varool.”
Damned upper brass, thinking they knew best!They kept their butts parked on ships in high orbit.What did they know of how things really were on the surface of Sagittarian One?
I shoved to my feet and began to pace the room, stopped by first one gray plastic wall, then another.It was a small space, bare of anything more than the computer station and a chair.The entire base was like that—no decorations and nothing extra.
It was also the nicest place I’d ever lived.No scuffs and scratches marred the walls and floor, nothing was broken, and I didn’t have to share it with five other people.But it was also kind of lonely.
I returned to the computer and checked for personal messages, but Aiko and Jonjon hadn’t sent anything.My best friends were busy and surrounded by hundreds of other people at almost all times of day—they didn’t need messages to keep in touch, not like I did.
The screen reverted back to the default security feed of the valley outside.Sharp gray peaks soared into the blue sky, currently clear of storm clouds.As the mountains widened out at lower elevations, vegetation began to appear, some green, some orange or yellow.Sagittarian One was similar to the pictures and vids of old Earth but not exactly the same, and the colors of the plants served as a constant reminder of the difference.
Not that I was going to forget anytime soon.After growing up on a starship,anyplanet looked strange.And beautiful—this new world was so damned beautiful.
Even though we’d only found Sagittarian One nine months ago, humanity should have been off our crowded, broken-down ships and building cities on the surface by now.
But no.
The Varool had arrived three months ago and wanted to settle this planet, too.The aliens had immediately tried to take control.It should have mattered that we got here first, but they had advanced technology we couldn’t hope to match.
The computer hooked up to the base’s weather equipment gave an angry beep, and I rolled my chair across the floor and pulled up the latest report—a storm.I snorted.“Of course it’s a storm.”
Any kind of weather seemed weird after growing up on a spaceship, but all of the scientists agreed that Sagittarian One had a very “active” weather system, with violent thunderstorms the norm instead of the exception.It was the original reason for this post—to place scanning equipment high enough up a mountain to get good readings of the surrounding area.Still, the massed clouds were a few hours out.I had time, as long as the alien did what I wanted.
I returned to the security computer and zoomed in until the Varool outpost filled the screen.It perched on the mountainside directly across the valley from my position.The one-story building had gentle curves instead of sharp angles, and the outside was painted the same flecked gray as the rocks around it, so it almost blended into the mountain.
When they’d first set up a month ago, my job went from “babysit the weather-telemetry equipment for the scientists” to “make sure those aliens don’t enter our territory.”This kind of assignment should have been exciting—Aliens!There were actual aliens!—only the brass wouldn’t let me do anything but watch.And even if the admiral wouldn’t admit it, things were clearly not going well on the diplomatic front.We needed to be bolder, or we’d never stand a chance against the Varool warriors.
The door to the alien base opened, and a dark-haired alien walked out.His broad shoulders tapered to a slim waist, and even from a distance, he looked tall, his legs long and thick with muscle.A black uniform hugged his body, hiding the distinctive orange-brown stripes that marked his tan skin.Damn, he had a great body.His features were indistinct, and I cursed the low quality of the camera.Was he as handsome as I always imagined?
Focus, JJ.He’s the enemy.
My adversary was punctual—I’d give him that.He patrolled his territory every day at this time and took exactly four hours to do so, which gave me plenty of time to enact my plan.
I popped the tracking chip out of my tablet and left it lying on the guard post’s main computer console so it wouldn’t rat me out to the higher ups.It was an old trick left over from my rebellious teenage years, when a bunch of us used to meet in one of the ship’s maintenance tunnels to get away from the adults.
My fingers made quick work of twisting my straight brown hair into a long braid so it would stay out of my way.I considered painting the pale skin of my hands and face to camouflage them like people always did in the old-Earth vids, but I didn’t have any cosmetics.Besides, the solid black of my military jumpsuit was too dark to blend in with the gray rocks outside, so I would stand out no matter what.I’d just have to count on speed and surprise to not be detected.Hadn’t I stayed holed up in here for the last week for exactly that reason—to lull the alien into thinking I’d never go outside?
I pushed to standing.It should be just enough time to do a little reconnaissance of my own before the storm hit.I’d get in trouble with the brass, but that didn’t matter.There’d be something in that base to help us stand up to the aliens, intel or tech or both.It was a desperate idea, but that’s exactly what the humanity was now—desperate.
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Wind whipped over myface as I hurried along the narrow path that wound up the side of the opposite mountain.Gray rock rose to my right, with nothing but open air on the left, leading to a drop down to the bottom of the valley.I wasn’t supposed to be the only guard at this location, but all three of the others had washed out in less than a week, one after the other, until the brass had run out of people to try.We’d all grown up on spaceships, so planets were a new experience for everyone, but it turned out some people couldn’t handle heights.They didn’t really bother me—I tried to picture it like standing on the hull of a spaceship and looking down its length.Okay, so gravity added a bit of a wrinkle to my analogy, but the sight of the river running far below didn’t make me dizzy enough to throw up.
Everything down here on the ground was really nice, actually.Holly-pine trees grew wherever they could cling to the rocks.They weren’t as big as the ones at lower elevations, but they were still taller than me.Numerous green needles covered their thick branches, which went all the way to the ground, giving the overall tree a full shape.They also smelled really good, all fresh and woodsy—it was kind of like one of the cleaning solutions we used on our spaceships, only a hundred times better.
A bird darted away from one of the trees as I got close, its wings a flutter of brown.It made me smile every time.After growing up with nothing but one therapy cat on my deck of the ship, it was pretty amazing to be surrounded by animals.Petting Mittens once a week for about five minutes had been a treat, but I’d always wanted more.Too bad none of the planet’s munk-cats lived in the mountains.The guards at other posts regularly shared vids of them feeding the striped, orange felines.
