The Varkari

Effect

When I turned around, I saw that the tables had filled up except for one or two empty seats where a human woman might sit some day and there was a soldier standing on the raised area for speakers. This male had dark yellow eyes like pirate's gold, but it could also have a touch of orange and I was just not close enough to see.

"That is the Speaker," Exer informed me in the barest of whispers. "He organizes the data and presents problems, progress, and solutions. We deliberate and he will have live feed from absentee participants or those who are not high enough to come."

I bobbed my head, watching as he touched the wall behind him and observed the immediate whitish blue projection.

"We will begin with the resolution of last session's major sector concern. The largest remaining human colony did resist dispersal and submission with an unexpected amount of uranium. I am pleased to report that Lord Hissryth's team successfully surrounded and neutralized the bombs before they could detonate and the energy has been absorbed. The team also believes that this can be converted into almost enough power for the entire return trip to Varkar..."

The room erupted in loud snarls and roars of triumph as fists pounded on the tables and feet hit the floors. It was terrifying and I pressed my hands against my ears to drown it out only to find that I could feel their snarls in my chest and the sounds made me shiver all over.

It was good, yes. No nuclear bombs had gone off. That was incredible actually, but fuel? That meant they might be going back, which was also incredible. I wanted to smile ear-to-ear and cheer, too. I automatically turned to Exer to ask, but then thought better of it. I could ask later.

"Our Admiral will fill you in on the next voyage and has data from the Controller," though he continued to flick through images of not just one, but several nuclear missiles like fat green and silver bullets sitting in some underground bunker, rigged with wires and a timer. I shuddered to think of that going off and I didn't even know where it would have been or when. Was I in the church? Would I have been blinked out by a bright wave of scalding fire while I slept on that dusty pew?

"Thank you, Speaker," said a new voice, pulling my gaze from the screen to the new Varkari that stepped up from the side of the stage where he had been leaning against the wall.

The hairs on the back of my neck slowly crept into a standing position as I took him in. He was the largest Varkari I had ever seen, at least taller than all of the soldiers. Muscles covered his limbs and torso, void of any fat so that their shape was apparent and accentuated further by the armored suit he wore. Where Exer's horns curled around like a ram and accentuated his cherubic cheeks, the Admiral's curved smoothly back over his head and were capped with the purplish alien metal at the tips that also highlighted the stripes of bared flesh along his forearms and shoulders.

His eyes were eerie, a shade of canary yellow that I rarely saw among his kind and made me want to stare at just how feline they seemed. Or maybe wolfish. They scanned over the crowd and met mine, a shockwave of goosebumps flying down my arms and back. If I could ever consider a monster as handsome, it would look like him with a straight nose that ran parallel with the line of his ears and lips that looked remarkably soft. He was all hard angles and sharpness, a weapon.

New data appeared on the screen with a tap. Finally, he looked away to gesture up at the graphs with a clawed finger. "Fuel resources are complete with reserves short only eight percent. This will be quick to fill, but as always, report any rumors of human explosives so that teams can be dispatched to neutralize the supply and collect-"

His voice was deep and rolling, calling to something buried under layers of conscious control that rose up to the surface, telling me that he was dangerous, a predator. I needed to get away from him or else.