White Ninja

Ankh Child

She didn't care if they lived or died. They were someone else's problem now. Guns spat their bullets. Human soldiers cried out. Not her problem. At least so she told herself over and over again as she walked along the dimly lit corridor.

"Ali. Update," a voice in her ear-piece offered the distraction she needed.

"I have it."

"Good. Safe house B-37 is a go," the voice said in an even tone but then lowly added, "I'll be there, waiting."

Thoram made everything sound kinky. Probably because his raging hormones always derailed his thoughts to pleasures of the flesh.

Ali couldn't hide a smirk forming on her lips. "Naked?"

"Of course, silly." Thoram snickered.

A scream shattered Ali's amusement. It was a woman - a scientist by her attire. A Sa'Ira soldier tugged at the woman's hair and dragged her inside a large room, probably a lounge. Ali stopped in the doorway. There were two more Sa'Ira soldiers inside. One of them stood behind a knelt man.

"Don't. Please! Don't!" the woman begged.

Ali's skin crawled as she realized that the woman was pleading for the life of the knelt man and not her own. The Sa'Ira soldier cackled dryly. A gunshot resonated inside the lounge leaving Ali breathless and the woman broken into whimpering sobs, sprawled on the floor toward the lifeless body of the man. Blood pooled around his head.

Another soldier pointed his rifle at the woman's head. Ali closed her eyes.

Not her problem. It would be over soon and she'd be inside the safe house, naked with Thoram, or discussing some new programming technique, or anything. Anything that would bring her mind some peace.

But there was no shot fired. The woman's screams returned tenfold. Ali watched in disbelief as one of the Sa'Ira soldiers pinned the woman to the floor, pulling her lab coat up and her pants down. His eager hands then moved to undo his belt. The others were all simpers and sniggers.

"Stop!"

The Sa'Ira soldiers looked at Ali bemused. The woman's cries and pleads were muffled by tears, but still, Ali could make out the words: "Just kill me."

"It's not your place to give orders, Ankh Child." The soldier sitting on top of the human stood up, arms spread, his belt undone.

"The Commander doesn't condone this sort of behavior."

Ali studied the soldiers. Sweat dripped across one's temple. A hand gripped the rifle tighter and tighter until the end of its fingers whitened. Lips pursed undecided. They were afraid. But the question was who did they fear more? Her or the Commander.

"Actually, he doesn't care as long as our task is completed." One of them said.

Ali understood the necessity to kill those humans. They had gotten their hands on Sa'Ira technology and any data collected, even their memory of it, had to be eradicated. The Commander's orders made sense. It wasn't her problem. Her own task had been completed. Break into the facility. Retrieve the Sakra circuit. The soldiers had their own task. The humans were their problem. So then why wasn't she stepping away?

"What is your name?" Ali wished to know.

"Katura Dun."

"You'll be in my report."

The soldier shrugged.

Ali turned and walked away. The woman's screams echoed behind her, sending chills across Ali's back. Along the corridor were groups of humans huddled up together. Shot after shot, the Sa'Ira soldiers executed them. And shot after shot, Ali's steps slowed down.

"Thoram." Her eyes closed tightly.

"Yes, hunny bunny."

"I'll be running a little late."

"Oh, no. Don't tell me."

She sighed. "The Commander won't like this."

"Don't tell me. Didn't I just say that?"

"I have to do this." Ali opened her eyes, made a turn and strode into the room where the woman was now whimpering.

"You always have to do something and then we're all in trouble."

Gravity, kinetic energy, inertia, friction, atmosphere pressure - she could sense everything.

"Love you, too," Ali uttered and in a blink of an eye the unruly Katura Dun was flung off the human.

Some techniques required precision. The sort of precision that her telekinetic abilities couldn't accommodate. Ali dashed at Katura Dun, palms open and tense. He couldn't move - she had blocked his muscles. In two swift hits to the Xen points located at the back of his neck, Katura Dun was rendered unconscious.

The other two soldiers hesitated. It was enough time for Ali to attack. Much like a human ballet, the Xen'Uxen technique required flexibility and grace. The tips of her fingers hit their marks and the Sa'Ira soldiers fell into a deep sleep.

"Ankh Child! Don't you dare move," another soldier stood in the doorway. "Commander, the Ankh Child's -"

His ear-piece flew out of his ear and broke apart in tiny little pieces that floated in the space between him and Ali. She hoped the soldier would give into his instinct to back away from such a display of power.

"She's gone rogue! The Ankh Child's gone rogue!" His warning was enough. More and more heavy footfalls echoed inside the corridor.

"Now it's just self-defense," she said.

Ali remembered the human gas. It worked just as well on Sa'Ira. She had suppressed the valves, but now seemed like a good time to undo all that hard work.

The soldier continued to yell his warning to his fellows and pulled the trigger as soon as Ali took a step toward the door.

The bullet stopped in the air and then dropped to the floor with a clink.

"You know better than that," Ali smirked and was thankful for the mask covering her face. She really didn't want to look like she was enjoying herself - even though she was.

This was a lot of trouble. The milky white gas helped a lot, but some had managed to activate their breathers. She blocked their slugs. That was draining her energy fast.

But Ali couldn't go back on her decision. She had saved a human, which meant that now she had to save all the humans and also cause no casualties among her own people. Taking a Sa'Ira life - that would get her into real trouble.

She back tracked to the last level. Most of the the Sa'Ira soldiers were knocked out by the gas.

A group of them had their breathers on and rifles ready to shoot. Or so they thought. Ali jammed their weapons and flew at them in a flash. With quick Xen'Uxen movements she put them to sleep.

The rapping of an assault rifle inside the lab caught her attention. No, they weren't firing at her.

Ali stalked toward the end of the corridor. Two Sa'Ira soldiers crouched behind what had remained of the door. Bullets rained out of the gas filled lab. Ali couldn't see who was shooting, but she could easily guess. The humans.

The soldiers were distracted and didn't see her coming. Their Xen points were easily found and pressed. Both soldiers slept like babies. Or so the human saying went.

There were a few seconds of silence. The human inside the lab was probably reloading his weapon.

Ali wondered if she should say something. A few words to announce that she was there to rescue them. But would they really listen to her?