Page 3 of Shadow's Chosen

Sia nodded her head once. "That's right.

The team glanced around, some locking eyes, others staring at the image of the city.

"Assuming they are still alive, what makes you think we could ever find them?" Adrien said after a short pause. "That city looks about twice the size of Texas alone, and when you say lower sector, that tells me there are levels to this city. They could be anywhere."

Sia tilted her head slightly back as she regarded him. "That is very true. And trust me when I say we have been diligently working with the drogin to locate them. I was prepared to tell you that I was merely hoping for your best efforts with what information we could find, even if all we had was whatever the drogin told us and our trust in their honesty. However," Sia pointed her remote toward the city, and a small beacon of light blinked upward from a location near its eastern half, "only less than twenty-four hours ago, this signal started going off. We traced it and found it to be one of our own. We think it is one of the crew members who must have started the S.O.S. using one of their own devices and sending it toward our location."

"Great, that at least gives us something," said Jerico.

"So we fly down and grab em' up, no sweat," said Bruce. "Load up a few of the big guns in case there's trouble."

"I'm afraid it will not be that simple," Sia stated. She clicked her remote again so that the city came into focus and actual buildings became recognizable. Below the blinking light, Elise could see a large circular complex poking out from a network of smaller buildings and streets.

"What's that?" Elise said, pointing.

"That," Sia answered, "is one of the city's energy deposits. The building feeds a certain area of the city its power using whatever means the drogin have learned to harness their energy." Sia zoomed out so that the wider area around the building could be seen. "It is, unfortunately, no longer in their grasp."

"What does that mean?" Adrien said.

"It means they no longer have control of it,” Sia said.

"How so?"

"The deposit, and a vast amount of the area around it, has been taken over by an underground crime organization the drogin have been battling with for years. And it has been a struggle." Sia returned the city back to a high aerial view where, this time, they could see many miles in each direction and where a set of walls enclosed the energy deposit and spread outward, encasing the city in sections. "These," Sia highlighted the walls in red, "were gateways leading to the various sectors of the undercity, but now they are overrun by crime lords, anarchists, and those working within the organization the drogin call the ‘Red Blades.’ The city officials have been fighting to keep them back at all costs, but still, the Red Blades find ways to spread and take over new territory. Now they control a vast section of the undercity, and all the drogin can do is try to keep them from spreading into the higher sectors.”

"Why not take them out from above then? Or send in armed forces?" asked Jerico.

"Trust me—they have tried. And still do on occasion. But the city's ships mysteriously stop working when they get too close to the bottom. Likely, the criminals are using some sort of advanced electromagnetic shields to depower the ships. As for armed forces, they have sent some in on occasion, taking back some of the territory in the process, but it is slow going. Thankfully, with the disappearance of our crew, the drogin are taking the matter very seriously. You will not be going in alone."

Elise looked to Adrien who glanced her way then turned back to Sia. "How do we know we can trust them? The drogin. We are outsiders to their city—what gives them cause to want to help us at all?"

"Good question, Captain Hauk. I think someone with better convincing could answer that for you." Sia turned to the screen along the wall and an image of a man—no, not exactly a man, but close—appeared before them. Elise blinked several times as she looked into the eyes of the alien, whose large, almond shaped eyes regarded each of them in turn.

For a second, Elise thought he looked like a rather cranky looking dog (namely of the larger breed like a Doberman) but with no long snout, just a bump and two slits for a nose and dog-like cropped ears on each side of his hairless head. There were no whites to his eyes, just golden-brown pupils encased in a watery gray. The more she studied him, the more her mind tried to piece him into a human-like image, and he started to look a little like some kind of fantasy creature, like those orcs or werewolves she'd seen in the videogames her brothers use to play.

The drogin sat at a terminal in a room not much different from their own. He bowed his head, and Sia did the same.

"This is Councilman Qorey," Sia said. "He has been helping us and working with their chief of enforcement to stifle the crime of the undercity."

The councilman began to speak in his foreign tongue, and the QS translator built into the call system kicked in.

"Pleased to meet you all." He looked to Adrien and said, "We completely understand your apprehension. We have been working to establish a connection with humans since the first team arrived. The drogin pride themselves on integration and melding of cultures from all across our known universe. There are many who have come from all over, and they have made a place in our great city. We had hoped the same could be said for those of Earth. We also have a common enemy, one whose power and influence we let spread too far. It was our own fault for we didn't take such a threat seriously until it was too late. But now we are ready to fight them and stop these criminals once and for all. We want to help our human friends. Teams of professionals such as yourselves will be at your side as you make your way into the undercity, and, with our elite tech, we are confident we can make the vermin scatter to all corners, bringing those responsible into our hands. And brought to justice."

Elise pursed her lips and stifled a laugh. Adrien gave her a warning glare, and she subtly placed a hand over her mouth. Whether by the translator's doing or just how the drogin talked, his words came out dramatic and over the top, as if the speech were rehearsed for a large crowd, not a handful of soldiers. The drogin even smacked his fist in the palm of his other hand, a clearly human gesture he was trying to use for their benefit. The effort wasn't lost on them, but it still looked extremely forced. A few cleared their throats, and Sia raised her brows at them. The drogin didn't seem to notice.

"If you come," the drogin continued, "we will equip you with our most advanced weaponry and armor along with all necessary supplies. You will not be alone in this fight."

"Thank you, Councilman Qorey," Sia replied when she was certain he was done speaking. "We will continue to stay in contact through this process."

"My pleasure." The councilman bowed his head again, and Sia returned the gesture before his image disappeared.

"That was...very convincing," Amy said, and a few burst out in a fit of quiet giggles.

Sia's mouth curved ever so slightly as she looked at each of them. "It's a dangerous mission I ask of you, but I don't ask it lightly. Grayhart cannot afford to see another team vanish and come back with so few or, worse, none at all."

Elise and the others turned quiet again.

"You mean like Grayhart 12?" Adrien said suddenly. They had heard about that team. Gone too far out of human territory only never to be heard from again.

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