“Mary...” His father put his hand over his mother’s. “We have no choice.” Kalian heard the words and felt his fingertips tingle when the mag-car increased in speed as it approached the bend in the bridge.
“Kalian!” Li’ara’s cry woke him with a panic.
As his eyes opened he felt the tug of gravity as he and the sofa dropped back onto the cabin floor. The table was upended with his Datapad on the other side of the room. He looked up to see Namek and Li’ara as well as three Novaarian technicians staring at him.
“Are you ok?” Li’ara moved to help him up but he had already managed it.
He was surprised to feel embarrassment rather than the usual dread he felt when someone witnessed such a display.
“Sorry about that.” The technicians had even larger eyes than normal, with a purple tongue visible inside their open mouths. “Bad dream...” Kalian saw real concern in Li’ara’s green eyes as she looked him over with a critical inspection.
“We need to leave. These engineers are here to fit the last upgrade needed for Telarrek’s plan.” Li’ara gently guided them out of the Fathom with Namek close behind. When out of earshot she asked, “What was that about?”
Kalian thought about the dream and was shocked to have so vividly remembered his parents’ conversation. His entire adult life he had only remembered the odd word, never certain of what caused the argument. It was a revelation to know they had been arguing about his abilities. He didn’t know he had ever displayed any when he was younger. On the one hand, he felt sorry for his parents having a child that was so alien to them they felt they had to get rid of him. Where were they taking him? His only conclusion was the UDC. His thoughts lingered for a moment on the two people like him Telarrek mentioned. Had he been close to their fate, stuck in some UDC lab never to be seen again?
He told Li’ara everything he had seen but she looked sceptical. She pointed out that it was only a dream and that he might have filled in the conversation for himself. If the dream hadn’t been so real he would be inclined to agree with her.
“We should find Roland and make sure he’s not drunk the ship dry.”
Just saying his name, Kalian could see Li’ara’s thoughts about the agent. He was the darker side to everything she had upheld as a UDC soldier. Thinking about what he must have gone through just to get this far impressed Kalian though, he kept the thought to himself but he was glad to have Roland North on their side.
After using the communication disc to contact Ilyseal they discovered his location deeper inside the ship. The central structure of the Valoran was a mirror of the Conclave. It was hollowed out and separated into rings with adjoining platforms. Roland looked a little ridiculous sitting on the Novaarian-sized stool at the ship’s bar. It was hard to miss the looks and hushed conversations from every Novaarian.
“How did you find the only bar on the whole ship?” Kalian climbed up onto the stool next to him, with Li’ara taking the other side.
“He could probably smell it - if it’s possible over that unique brand of his own.” Li’ara’s nose crinkled in disgust.
“You spend a week cramped in a cargo bay with a thousand people and see how you smell.” He gave himself a sniff inside his long coat. “That’s the smell of a real man sweetheart. You’ve been spending too long with the kid here.” He thumbed in Kalian’s direction. Roland continued to down the rest of his blue coloured drink until the glass was empty. “Tastes like Solarcite.” A mischievous smirk crept up his face. “But it doesn’t wear off after an hour.” As soon as he placed his glass on the circular coaster it began to fill up from the bottom like magic. “Two more for my endangered friends!” He slammed the bar as he slurred his words.
They both inspected the drinks that emerged from their own coasters. The smell was enough to put them off.
Kalian wondered if this was Roland’s way of dealing with the news about Earth and Century. It didn’t sound like he had lost anyone he really cared about. Li’ara had lost her anchors with the death of her father and the destruction of the UDC, whereas Roland had lost his lifestyle and the control and freedom granted him by Central Parliament. Kalian felt like he had lost a culture he was feeling less and less a part of. The changes and revelations of the past week had given him a new sense of belonging. He was beginning to feel like he had always belonged out amongst the stars in a culture as vast as the Conclave. But when he looked at Li’ara he had other new feelings, feelings of attachment and loyalty to her, and whatever was left of humanity. He knew himself to be human, he felt human, but Savrick and his kind had fogged the issue.
They remained in the bar for a few hours, Kalian and Li’ara ordering a less deadly drink, while Roland continued to inhale the alien alcohol. Kalian hated to admit that the agent’s dry sense of humour was quite entertaining, even Li’ara laughed every now and again. Kalian felt his own stories weren’t as interesting as theirs, with his being mostly anecdotal jokes about teaching and theirs about action and adventure. The more Roland drank, the more secrets he spilt and the less jovial he became.
“You know all those separatists and rebels we spent so long trying to silence?” Every five or six words were interrupted by a hiccup. “It turned out they were all being backed by the same organisation.”
Li’ara’s interest seemed peeked at the statement.
“Some remnant of the Corporate Wars that wanted to take back control or something, I don’t know. It all seems so... what was the point of it all? All those missions, all those wars... all that time...” He looked off into the distance as if he could see through the bar. “So we could make a better world?” He suddenly laughed at some untold joke. “All for nothing...” He was starting to sound bitter. “And what about you Red, hanging onto some pathetic order to keep him alive? The UDC is gone, what’s left of it is sitting in a Laronian ship, and they don’t even know what’s going on!”
A smaller glass with yellow liquid shot up from the fixed coaster, Roland didn’t even bother to look at it before draining it. “We should just embrace this new culture and see what opportunities it can offer. Get away from all the human bullshit and red tape and just...” He imitated a ship flying off before rolling his tongue around in his mouth. “Fruity!” Roland blinked hard a few times before examining his surroundings. “Crap!” He picked up the small glass and gave it a smell. “It made me sober again!”
Li’ara rolled her eyes and shook her head in despair. “How you got this far I’ll never know.”
They hopped off their stools as Ilyseal contacted them to inform them of the departure time. Roland followed them to the hangar since he had nowhere else to go. It was busier than normal with hundreds of crew and machines working on the various smaller craft. More than once they had to stop and allow for large containers and ship parts to be ferried across the bay. Seeing the Novaarians work in such a technical way, Kalian could see how useful having four arms was.
Telarrek and Ilyseal were waiting for them by the Fathom as Namek disappeared into the ship carrying supplies.
“The ship is ready. The Valoran will enter real space for only as long as it takes for us to depart,” Telarrek said.
“Roland, you are welcome to accompany me to the command bridge and use the Observatory for research. Your council in the coming battle will be appreciated. It has been thousands of years since our people have been involved in anything as violent as war.”
Roland looked taken aback by Ilyseal’s words. He obviously wasn’t used to being spoken to quite so politely. “Just keep me away from the blue stuff.” Roland pretended to be distracted by some distant engineering work.
Telarrek and Ilyseal turned to one another and clasped one lower arm and one upper arm, then gently touched their foreheads before parting.
“Fight with the courage you have lived with and you will find victory, Charge Ilyseal.” Telarrek was bestowing her with the mantle of charge and giving her the Valoran.
The seriousness of his words gave Kalian pause.
The Valoran was going up against a ship that had already destroyed one human fleet, several Conclave security vessels, survived a miniature supernova and obliterated two solar systems. The odds were not on their side. It suddenly felt crazy that Ilyseal, Roland and the thousands of crew on board would most likely die, just so that they might find some answers. Kalian was starting to feel the weight of countless deaths, just so that Savrick could have the satisfaction of killing him.
“I might be regretting my first choice.” Roland broke the gravity of the situation. “Maybe I should come with you guys.”
“Let’s go.” Li’ara walked past them, ignoring Roland and heading for the Fathom.
He gave a large sigh as Ilyseal ushered him towards the Translift and the command bridge. Once inside Li’ara took her position in the pilot seat next to Namek with Telarrek and Kalian sitting behind. Hangar crew moved out of the way as Li’ara retracted the landing gear and manoeuvred the ship towards the shield. Everything seemed a lot smoother since the upgrades had been installed, and Li’ara took to the new controls like a fish to water.
Poised in front of the shield they waited a moment until the vast field of stars appeared in a flash of light. Using the new holographic domes, Li’ara flew the ship out into space. Only seconds later did the display show the departure of the Valoran as it continued its journey to Corvus.
“Nice...” Li’ara was impressed with the new navigational system.
She was presented with a list of destinations the ship had enough fuel to reach. The Novaarian technicians had obviously encoded the Conclave network into the ship’s systems. After choosing Nova Prime it gave a sub-list of surrounding planets and moons within that region. She chose Naveen and waited while the Nav computer worked through the complex mathematics of plotting the safest course, taking into account asteroids, black holes, stars, passing ships and other planets. Before she could activate the Intrinium ignition, Namek used all four of his hands to work the console.
“One last upgrade.” Namek depressed the touch console causing a mechanical sound at the back of the ship.
The display showed them six cylindrical objects being jettisoned from a new hatch underneath. After a moment of free-floating, they came alive, pointing in opposite directions before six small flashes lit up the viewport.
“Savrick and his people will know of this tactic when they see we have stopped,” Telarrek explained. “If he splits his forces he will not know which Intrinium signature to follow. The Valoran’s will be clear to see but those six Intrinium drives will mask our own, giving them seven locations to choose from. This will give us more time.”
Kalian heard the distinct sound of hope in his voice. Satisfied with the ship’s diagnostics, Li’ara pulled the lever forcing them back into oily subspace.
They would get their answers.
The command module appeared to be breached again as the panoramic hologram showed them entering real space. Through his link, Savrick knew the pilot was instantly analysing all local star systems. They had stopped here, if only for a moment, but why? Did they really think it would go unnoticed against the capabilities of this ship? He already knew from the holograms that floated around his person that the Novaarian ship was continuing on a heading for a planet called Corvus. So like a Terran, run and hide from the very thing they started. How dare they undo all his work, the pain and suffering his kind had endured to end them and they do this? That is why Kalian Gaines must die.
Just thinking of the humans made him angry; their existence was an insult to his cause, a cause that had taken the lives of so many of his kind. It angered him further to think of how long it was taking to find and kill just one of them. Both Elandar and he felt the detection through their links.
“Show me.” Savrick verbally commanded.
The hologram magnified a sector of local space and began a reconstruction of the sensor’s readings. Eight Intrinium scars had been located in close proximity to one another. Elandar increased the strength of the neutrino bursts but limited its bandwidth to that grid. The image changed to highlight the individual signatures so they could distinguish and further analyse them. The pilot began to dissect the individual crystals left behind by the jump to subspace.
The largest collection of crystals had a unique isotope reading, marking the Novaarians’ jump easily. A ship of that size could not avoid their sensors even if they were cloaked. The other seven were almost identical, with a varying amount of crystals left behind by a smaller ship. Savrick quickly ran the scenarios through his mind searching for the most obvious answers. Had some of the crew abandoned ship knowing they would be hunted and ultimately destroyed by his forces? Had they sent messengers to wayward allies with a plea of help? Or had they simply wanted to slow them down with a mysterious stop mid-journey?
No...
He had a better idea of what was happening here. They were being made to choose; follow one signature or the other, or split his forces. Smart, but foolish. Even if he did split his forces they could still overcome anything their crude technology threw at them. If this was truly their ploy then Kalian could now be in any one of eight places. He waved the holograms away in frustration. This was taking too long.
“Pull them apart. I want estimated fuel consumption, potential destinations, class of ship and I want it now!”
Elandar began his own investigation at Savrick’s request as well as the pilot who responded through his link commands.
“We have all the data on human technology as well as Conclave; I want to know what they’re up to. Sift through it all if you have to!”
“I have something.” Elandar picked up the floating hologram and slid it across the room to Savrick.
The image showed a breakdown of the crystals on a microscopic level. Intermingled with the other scars was a unique pattern that had traces of an alloy across the crystalline surface. This alloy had clearly been picked up by the crystals as they were ejected from the engine. A further inspection of the trace element proved its origin was not of Conclave design.
“The human ship.” Savrick recalled the small human vessel that had boarded the Eclipse before it decimated the Century system.
Elandar had seen the female soldier as well as Kalian in the central structure of the missile. Just thinking about it, the pilot projected its schematics into the command module. The side read Fathom across the hull.
Another scan projected the calculations made, based upon the other scar crystals. A local map of space showed the other six ships would run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere, a pitiful distraction. But the signature with traces of human alloy had the potential to travel into the heart of Novaarian territory, Nova Prime. He was faced with the option of two planets. Looking at the details of both he could see the obvious choice was Nova Prime with the bigger orbital defence system, and no doubt they were already amassing their fleets. Corvus was the less attractive, being the less well-defended planet out of the two and a smaller population to get lost in. But he couldn’t rule out the possibility that this train of thought was what they were banking on. The human vessel goes to Nova Prime with Kalian while the Novaarian ship goes to Corvus to lead them off his trail.
What would he do? No, what would a Terran do? He had spent centuries fighting them, learning how they think, how they fight and how they only ever think of themselves. A Terran would fight only until their own demise was evident, then they would flee and leave their brothers and sisters to die like the cowards they are.
“Prepare a ship. I will take Lilander, Sef and the beast to Nova Prime. You will continue to this Corvus where you will crush that ship. If he is aboard you will bring him to me alive. But I’m willing to bet he’s not.”
Despite the verbal command, the pilot knew which orders to follow via the link. Through the pilot’s own connection to the ship, the instructions were given to the nanites to begin construction of a ship with FTL capabilities. The onboard factories were equipped to make almost anything with the individual bui
lders being the size of a pinhead.
“But brother, without the pilot you will have to use conventional fuel to travel. We have stored Intrinium but such a distance will take you several days to reach it with an actual engine.” The worry on Elandar’s face distorted the purple tattoo that covered half of his mouth and left cheek. His long dark hair usually concealed most of his face.
“And yet those are my commands.” That was all he needed to say.
Elandar retreated to his internal scans to monitor the new ship’s construction; it would only take an hour at the most.
12
“I don’t believe it! If we ever see him again I’m going to kill him!” Li’ara was in the armoury having replaced her undersuit and armour. She was furiously searching through various concealed containers that all had key code locks on the outside. She looked at Kalian’s curious look and slammed the lid. “He took all the explosives and photon guns!”
“Who?” Kalian knew the answer before she replied.
“Roland! Who do you think?”
Before she could go on to insult the agent they both heard the low hum of the engine power down. Li’ara was already shouting her questions as they made their way into the cockpit. Namek was sitting in the pilot’s seat on the left with Telarrek in the co-pilot’s. The console’s clock had both human time and Conclave next to one another. They had been travelling through subspace for just over a day, human time.
“The buff capacitors are being destabilised by a faulty hatch mechanism.” Namek’s statement went over Kalian’s head. “We cannot re-enter subspace until it is fixed.”
Li’ara leant on the chair and sighed. “Upgrades, huh?”
Both Novaarians tilted their heads at her sarcasm.
“We can depressurise the cabin and I can make the repairs.” Namek had already started the process by sealing the armoury, med bay and sleeping quarters. “When I am ready, press this.”
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 32
