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  The Deserter

  Sometimes, to live by a code, you have to betray it.

  David Nash

  Copyright © 2019 by David Nash

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Part I

  Part II

  Part III

  Part IV

  Part V

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Also by David Nash

  Part I

  The Crime of Desertion

  1

  I grew up on John Wayne and a father that worked behind the walls of a prison. I guess it was inevitable that I not only learned to fight, but I learned to enjoy it a little. So between that and my grandfathers and father’s Marine Corps stories it was only natural that I ended up joining the Corps. Most Marine stories start with “I shit you not – There I was” and as a Sergeant 7 years in my story starts the same way.

  I was coming out of a little bar known as the “Gold Lounge” just off post of Camp Lejeune NC when I the heard the sound of fighting. I followed the sound to back behind the bar and saw a huge 6’6 guy working over this little dude. As I approached I noticed this was no simple disagreement, the big man had a knife was actively stabbing the mousy little fellow.

  I didn’t think as I went with my first instinct and grabbed him by the shoulder and back of the head and rocked his head off the stuccoed wall of the nightclub. As a 6’3 190 pound Marine I expected it to take big man out of the fight. It didn’t.

  The fact that he wasn’t knocked out did not surprise me as much as what I saw when he turned to face me. The skin of his forehead was torn away in a gash and greenish-blue scales lay under the open skin dangling from my opponent’s forehead. More frightening than that was the quick flash of reptilian slit pupils before returning to “normal” human eyes. It is one thing to watch late night TV and hear about conspiracy theories concerning lizard aliens hiding on earth and influencing out government, it is another thing entirely to actually see one.

  My frozen state lasted long enough for the reptile man to slash me deeply across my stomach. Luckily my training took over as I closed with him and wrapped my chest and arms around his knife arm. He could not cut me anymore as my body formed a shield locking his shoulder and elbow. I attacked his thumb and worked to pry the knife loose while kneeing him repeatedly.

  Once he dropped the knife I elbowed him in the side of his head and lifted his arm up and slipped under it. With my right hand, I pulled his arm straight out from his side. Once his arm was pulled straight, I placed my left forearm on his upper arm and drove my forearm straight to the ground. I wanted him down on the ground. The technique works, even when the opponent is bigger, but this lizard was incredibly strong. Instead of going straight to the gravel, we struggled and danced around in a circle as he fought to get free.

  Never being one to stick to a plan that wasn’t working, I slung him away and backpedaled for distance. This bought me time to draw my own knife.

  At this point the lizard man pulled out a second knife from inside his jacket. My natural urge was to focus on the huge serrated blade as my opponent let out a guttural hiss and began to move the blade side to side.

  My father named me William Tell after of both William Tell Sackett of the Louis La’mour westerns and the real life William Tell of apple shooting fame. He used my name to help teach that there are occasions when you have to get mean and apply violence of action. In this case, the only real option was too close the distance aggressively with the knife man and show them what happens when you mess with a Marine.

  I quickly closed the gap and with quick sewing machine motions I went about stabbing him as deep and hard as I could. We ended up in a clench, our heads pressed together ear to ear. My left hand pulled his head and body close against my own as I stabbed him repeatedly in his guts as fast as I could.

  While it is fair to say I was the last one standing, it is not quite fair to say I won the fight. Without emergency care I was sure to die. I had stab wounds and deep slices throughout my arms and torso. I even had a couple of really deep bites on my shoulder that looked as bad as they felt. I collapsed in exhaustion and looked over at the little guy. He too was in bad shape. Like the reptilian attacker, his skin peeled back in places to show a pale grey skin. I was too spent to react much to the fact that I just saved a little grey alien.

  We made eye contact and to my surprise the little guy said, “You have no idea what trouble you just caused.”

  “What!” I said as forcefully as my injured body could exclaim. “I just saved your life”.

  The grey looked at me and said, “Yes, but at great cost, that Barkun enforcer was punishing me for being caught on a protected planet. Your attack has doomed this planet for sterilization.”

  My mind raced know that being the cause of Earth’s destruction would earn me something much different from a second good conduct medal. I just don’t have any friends that like me enough to help me bury an alien body.

  “Look, little guy” I said, “first off, no one has to know what happened, I know plenty of places no one will find him. Secondly, if you and I don’t get to a hospital we won’t last long enough to worry about anything else.”

  “Do not call me little guy. I am a Sagren and I am one of the largest of my kind. My size and abilities are why I am the protector of Earth. There is no hiding the body, His ship knows he died violently and can track it. As to medical treatment, your hospitals would only kill us both. There is no human based knowledge of the poisons the Barkun enforces use on their blades.”

  “That’s just great, if we can’t go to a hospital, and we can’t hide the body, what options do we have to protect Earth from total destruction? I mean I would hope you have some ideas, at least based on your title.”

  “I do have a solution, but only for the protection of the planet. My ship can neutralize the poison from the blades, and even repair the damage done to us, but there is only one way for you to try to save earth. You must find his ship and claim it by right of conquest.

  If you command the ship you may use it to contact the Barkun Empire and confess. If you are able to convince the Emperor’s representative that the Earth had no part to play in your illegal actions he has the authority to allow you to can take full responsibility. If you take the punishment then the earth may be spared. There is nothing else I can do to help an earthling on Earth”

  This news was just the thing to ruin a man’s night. The light buzz I had worked so hard to achieve was gone. My head was lightheaded from the blood loss, and now that the adrenalin had burnt out of my system it was becoming more and more painful to move.

  Now I have to plead guilty without any knowledge of the punishment. I knew I should have stayed in the barracks and drank alone.

  2

  After very rudimentary first aid to slow the bleeding, I threw the body in the back of my jeep, and drove the little grey alien out to a small abandoned single-wide trailer just off the highway about 30 minutes off post. Rumor was it was a former meth lab that was confiscated by the County Sheriff.

  Once there, the alien got out and walked toward the back of the run down trailer. He limped about 20 feet from the jeep and turned to give me an expectant look. I knew he wanted me to follow him, however, before I did I looked around the jeep. It had blood everywhere, some was mine, but it was mixed with the blood from the grey, as well as what had leaked out of Alligator Joe’s corpse.

  Knowing the shit-storm that awaited me a
fter the jeep was found I wrote a quick note with as little detail as possible. I shoved it in my glove box as I removed my Glock and locked the glove box. I grabbed my go-bag from the jeep and walked with the little alien behind the trailer. The second we were behind the trailer a small flying saucer appeared in the field directly behind the building.

  A small door appeared showing a brightly lit interior. It looked just as you would imagine after watching any number of science fiction shows.

  We stepped inside to a large bare room that was nearly 15 yards in diameter. Since the Ship itself was about 20 yards at the widest diameter I wondered aloud where the engines and mechanics were kept.

  The grey seemed to become exasperated by this and huffily replied, “I told you clearly that I could not share more to a native earth dweller on earth. Now please lie on the table.”

  As I began to ask him what table, a white smooth rectangle approximately the size of a twin bed rose out of the floor. With some hesitation I did as the grey asked. I had some fear of being probed, but at this point I knew I would die without medical intervention.

  As soon as my head hit the table I was bathed in light and became paralyzed. I had full consciousness but I could not move. It appeared that the top of the table became liquid as it flowed over my body and surrounded my injuries. Whatever the table was doing to me did not exactly hurt, but it was extremely uncomfortable. The feeling was an intense itching sensation that alone was almost unbearable, however it also came with a tremendous sense of violation.

  I felt like something was inside me. It was as if someone was inside my body without my permission. Then with no warning the table receded into itself and the itching and violation ceased immediately. I was not longer injured. The feeling of relief was intense but that relief was instantaneously over as I felt like I was stabbed in the head right behind my ear.

  I felt like someone shoved a 6-inch spike inside my head. I was unable to see. I heard a deafening screech that I can only describe as fingers on a chalkboard. Then with a flash of multicolored light I saw flashed visions of myself lying on the table with a tube of the liquid table entering my skull right behind my right ear.

  Just like with my wounds, as the liquid table receded from my body the pain ceased. My sight and hearing returned and I could now move freely. I sat bolt upright and grabbed my head. As I touched my head and then looked at my hand I was relieved to see there was no blood.

  Grey spoke “The implant was a necessary discomfort if you are to speak to the ship and save the living beings on your planet.”

  “Stop giving me half answers! If you don’t tell me what is going on, I am about to start breaking shit. The destruction will most likely start with ungrateful little aliens.”

  “As Aegeus has stated, he cannot tell an earthling on earth any more without violating earth’s protected status and bringing retribution down upon Earth as well as the Sagren home world.”

  This new voice was deep and authoritative. What really shocked me was that the voice seemed to be coming from inside my own head.

  “Who said that? Who is Aegeus? Most importantly if you can’t tell an earthling something on Earth you better take this earthling off of Earth because if I don’t start getting answers in three fucking seconds I am going to start breaking things!”

  A faint smile came to the little alien’s face before the top and very bottom of the saucer became transparent and the ship rose and left Earth in what seemed like minutes. Looking down and seeing Earth recede as we traveled into space was a very disturbing process to say the least. I felt like I should be feeling motion, but inside the ship there was no movement.

  As soon as we passed the Moon, the little alien was bathed in a beam of light and his “human suit” disappeared. What stood before me was a “Roswell” alien, large head, huge black eyes, tiny spindly body and all.

  “We don’t have a lot of time, only as hour at most, so you must listen. We do not have time for you be as slow as understanding as you were about leaving the earth.

  My name is Aegeus, which is my name as well as my title. I appointed myself the protector of Earth. Earth is listed as a protected planet in the Confederation. As such, no species or organization can assist your planet develop modern technology.

  This especially means space travel and sub-atomic manipulation. Once Earth gains these technologies the status of protected planet will be removed and Earth will be available for claim by conquest.

  The Barkun role in the galaxy is to enforce Confederation laws such as this. As such they have the authority to determine when the Earth is advanced enough to ask for citizenship in the Confederation. Unfortunately, As soon as this status is available the Earth is free to be claimed by right of Conquest. It is well known that the Barkun have plans to conquer Earth as soon as the protective status restrictions are lifted.

  Some individuals of my race feel this is a violation of the spirit of the law and a few of them have been attempting to ensure that Earth is not unfairly advanced. However, many consider this to be illegal and you stepped in to a Barkun enforcer punishing me for my personal interference. “

  “So why did you not fight back? Does your Confederation not have judges to determine what is right and wrong?”

  “They do, you just killed one. I did not resist the enforcer because once I accepted the punishment; the crime would be mine alone. If I resisted my planet could be found in violation for having a lawless culture.”

  Before I could express my disbelief the voice in my head spoke.

  “Human, the Confederation does not tolerate lawlessness. Our rules are simple and they allow freedom by creating predictability. The Kernel of Sentience created the Law and we have chosen the Barkun to enforce it.”

  “Aegeus, What did you do to me? What is this voice that keeps talking in my head?” The little grey alien looked at me and said.

  “Human, You are hearing a Kernel. It is a member of the Kernel of Sentience that created the Confederation. The Kernel you hear is what you would naively call an artificial intelligence. This one controls my ship, and it is the Kernel of the Barkun ship you must take command of. A ship is just a vessel that a Kernel inhabits.

  We do not have much time left. All you need to know at this point is that the Confederation maintains the laws the biologics in the galaxy live by, and the consequences for violation of that law are severe. If you want to save your planet you must claim the Barkun ship by right of conquest, confess to the Barkun, and convince the Barkun Enforcer supervising this system that you acted alone so that all punishment falls upon you. To do this you must renounce all ties with Earth.”

  “A computer runs the galaxy? Earth has to die because I kept someone from being killed? Asimov would be rolling in his grave!”

  “Aegeus laughed at this, I see you are not totally ignorant human. Asimov was a Sagren, and wrote the rules of robotics to give the emerging human race a tool to begin to understand the Confederation. If the Kernels were not bound to an unbreakable law their power would be limitless. Enough talk, we must find the ship and you must save Earth.”

  3

  “Human, we will be reentering the Earth Protected zone in a few minutes, so here is the final information I can give you.

  If you show the ship the Barkun body and convince him you are his rightful captain you will have control of a very powerful device.

  The Kernel must follow your directives, but it cannot break any Confederation law. It cannot lie to you, and it must answer direct questions. However, it does have the ability to interpret law and make legal judgments. It may not give you an answer you feel is 100% accurate, but all answers will be within the scope of the law. A Kernel must have a Captain to command it, it has the ability to fly itself and navigate hyperspace, even fire weapons, but it cannot act alone. Confederation law says the Captain must direct the Kernel’s actions.

  As Asimov described, a Kernel cannot directly harm any living thing. However, you are under no such rule, therefore you m
ust be in command. You may interface with the Kernel by your implant; additionally it acts as a universal translator. Most importantly, understand that the Kernel inhabits the ship. The ship is nothing more than a complex machine; the Kernel is a sentient being.

  As soon as you gain control, you must tell it to leave the earth-protected zone and have it contact the Barkun Empire for your confession. Without a doubt the Barkun are on the way to sterilize your planet.”

  “Can it read my thoughts? “ Now I am terrified because I have some crazy thoughts, especially what I want to do to the Kernel, the Confederation, and the Barkun race.

  “No, that is not possible. The implant has attached to various nerves within your brain. It is as if you attach a speaker to a radio. You can hear the signals projected from the radio, but you cannot hear the thoughts of the musicians.”

  Somewhat less concerned, I ask the alien how hard it will be to find the ship. He tells me it won’t be hard. His ship must cloak to hide from Confederation technology; the Barkun ship only has to hide from Earth level tech. He says with humanities primitive technology, finding a Barkun ship is on earth is like finding the bright lights of a city at night in the middle of the dessert. I feel slightly insulted.

  Within minutes we hover over a small lake in the middle of an artillery impact area on the Base. Aegeus unceremoniously dumped the dead Barkun and myself off his ship and onto the rocky shoreline. I watched as his ship rose and quickly cloaked.

  I am left alone. While I have more than a little fear, I hide it deep inside. I take a breath and from deep in my diaphragm call out in my Sergeant voice.