by J McGovern
The secretary nodded slowly. ‘I believe so.’
The Defence Force Leader stroked his beard, exhaling slowly. ‘Then let us pray to Chance that we are now safe from the oncoming darkness.’
The four Zierons and the two humans returned to the main body of the cavern in the golden boat, and left the cavern using the anti-gravity elevator. Outside, hail was falling heavily, and the sky was dark and grey.
‘A result of the translation process!’ Rell shouted, over the deafening hail. ‘This was predicted by the scientists!’
Then, quite suddenly, the hail stopped, and sunlight once again filled the sky. Now, the entire planet looked exactly the same as before. The landscape was identical, and the few people present in the city seemed largely unaffected by the experience.
‘Excellent,’ Rell said. ‘A testament to Zieron science! Excellent!’ He turned to Alyce and Glitz. ‘I will escort you back to the Deliverer. I am glad that you could witness this.’ He took Alyce’s hand and kissed it gently. ‘And let me say, while there are still humans like you alive, Alyce Wickam, there is still hope for the Imperium.’
Alyce flushed. Rell produced a book from within the folds of his robe. It was a black, leather-bound volume, with golden text. The title read: THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND NOBLE ZIERONS.
‘Now, you may never be persuaded that our society is perfect. I sometimes question that statement myself. But I understand that you — and the rest of your family — have been interested in our people for a long time. Hopefully this book will give you further insight into our ways.’
Alyce bowed her head respectfully. ‘Thank you.’
‘Now let us return to your ship.’
***
Glitz and Alyce said their goodbyes to Rell, who had promised to open a one-time wormhole near their ship, which they could use to re-enter their own galaxy. They entered their new ship, which was still parked on the marble-like platform. The design of the flight deck was smart without being ostentatious, and minimal without being Spartan. The non-human design was evident straight away; three hexagonal control screens were built into the far wall, and the floor was a strange hexagon grid design. There was a large white sofa-like object, which was shaped like two-thirds of a hexagon.
‘Looks like the guy who built this was fond of hexagons,’ Glitz grunted.
There were various consoles on the flight deck, all of which seemed to operate in a way entirely different from human technology. But hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem; Rell had mentioned that the onboard computer was capable of full automatic operation.
‘Computer,’ Alyce said. Nothing happened. She paused, trying to remember the name of the operating system. ‘Seraph.’
At the mention of the word, the computer began to speak. One of the hexagonal control screens lit up in synchrony with the words. Seraph’s voice was male — if such a designation could be applied to a computer. It had a calm and pleasant tone.
‘I’m Captain Alyce Wickham, and this is Harlan Glitz.’
‘He’s a polite computer,’ Alyce murmured. Then she raised her voice. ‘One of the Zierons should be opening a wormhole in a few moments. We need to enter it.’
With a hum, the engines started. Glitz wondered if the three nacelles provided extra engine power, or were simply there to provide extra room on the ship. Perhaps they did both. One of the hexagonal scanners flickered into life; it showed a view outside the ship; they were heading straight into the wormhole. They both felt a tremor of anticipation as they slipped through the wormhole. If the Zierons had opened it to the wrong galaxy, they might never be able to return to the Imperium. There was a flash of light, and the ship emerged from the other side of the wormhole. Now stars were visible outside the ship.
‘Seraph, plot us a chart of our current galactic position.’
Immediately, a chart flickered up on the third display scanner. Alyce perused it carefully. She had only ever been average at map reading, and there were some sectors which she wouldn’t recognise at all. With a great feeling of relief, Alyce realised that they were back in the Nosferatu Sector. Rell had been as good as his word; they were exactly where they had been before entering the first wormhole. She exhaled slowly, and then turned to Glitz.
‘What do you think about the Zierons? Do you reckon they were right to genetically engineer themselves?’
Glitz shrugged. ‘They seemed like nice enough people. As for their morals — well, I’m no philosopher. I’ll leave such questions to better men than myself.’
‘That’s a refreshing attitude.’ She smiled. ‘Come on, let’s explore the rest of the ship. Oh —’ She turned back to face the control screens. ‘Seraph, are you familiar with the layout of this galaxy?’
‘Great. Please take us to Lightworld.’
Alyce turned to Glitz. ‘Now we’ll see just how capable Seraph is when it comes to automatic operation.’
The Deliverer entered phase space; and the scanner revealed darkness as all the stars vanished. Glitz and Alyce left the flight deck to discover what else was onboard the ship. There were three main decks, including the flight deck. The second deck, which was located above the main deck, included the crew room, leisure room, spacious accommodation, a kitchen, and a dining area. All of the ship’s design included the peculiar hexagonal shapes. The third deck, which was located beneath the flight deck, housed the engine room. It was clear to both of them that the engines were too complicated for them to understand, and the thing they assumed to be the antimatter power generator looked positively dangerous. They would simply have to pray that the auto-repair system was as good as Rell claimed; a human engineer would be unlikely to understand the equipment.
The three nacelles provided additional room, and were clearly designed for easy reconfiguration. One of the nacelles housed a couple of extra bedrooms, the second contained spare parts and materials, and the third was mostly empty. The ship was extremely big for two people, but luckily it did not require a large crew. Seraph had been designed to operate the ship without assistance.
She smiled at Glitz. ‘It’s been a long day. I could do with a lie down. Would you care to join me?’
Glitz smiled at her. ‘With pleasure.’
Chapter Nineteen
Volori System
Glitz and Alyce sat on the sofa on the flight deck, feeling a little redundant. Seraph had exceeded all expectations of capability. It had single-handedly navigated the ship successfully through phase space, and piloted it carefully through the Volori system. Now they were approaching Lightworld. Seraph opened a communication line with the OTC.
‘Thanks.’ Alyce jumped to her feet. ‘This is Captain Alyce Wickham, requesting landing permission.’
‘Good afternoon, Captain. Our records indicate that you are on paid leave, and not due to return until —’
‘This is urgent. I have information for the First Naval Lord regarding the current galactic situation. I must speak with him.’
There was a pause; Alyce guessed that the speaker was consulting with a superior authority. Finally he spoke again. ‘Permission granted, Captain.’
They landed on the planet as before, and a buggy came to pick them up. Midshipman Barnes was not driving this time; it was a man that Alyce didn’t recognise. When they entered the building, the First Naval Lord welcomed them, and led them into the Admiralty Board Room. It was empty apart from the three of them.
‘I unde
rstand your leave has not yet expired,’ the First Naval Lord muttered. ‘However, I am glad you came. The situation is becoming dire indeed. Soon, we may need all men at our disposal — and all women, of course. With hindsight, it was foolish to grant leave in the middle of such a crisis.’ The First Naval Lord’s face was pale. ‘One of our stations has been taken.’
‘Taken?’ Alyce sat down, feeling a little weak. ‘How?’
The First Naval Lord paused sourly. ‘This morning, we received a report that a huge ship was approaching Station 949.’
‘949? Which station is that, sir?’
‘It houses the Genetic Archive.’
‘That’s odd.’
The Genetic Archive was not directly under the governance of the Imperium; it was controlled by a semi-independent organisation called the Imperial Conservation Committee. The idea was to preserve a genetic sample of every single known life-form, from all discovered planets. However, the collection was never completed. The Imperium saw fit to discontinue the project two years previously, and the Archive was only still operational because the funding hadn’t quite run out. When it did, the samples would likely all be destroyed.
‘Indeed — we expected a fight from the Weerms, but we never predicted that they would attack such a strange target.’ He sighed. ‘The station is located in the Argive Sector, which does not have a significant Navy presence. Ozytan only attacked with one ship, but the Sector Defence Force was no match for him — he has developed some kind of projected energy weapon, which can penetrate our strongest forcefields. The ship docked with the station, and about a hundred of those creatures — the Weerms — stormed in and took control. Luckily, a worker on the base managed to get a message to Lightworld before the station was taken — otherwise we would be none the wiser.’
‘So Ozytan is in full control of the station?’
‘I am afraid so.’
‘Space! And all this happened this morning?’ The First Naval Lord nodded, and she paused. ‘I assume you are readying a fleet, sir?’
‘Yes, our fleet will be leaving tomorrow, in a mission to reclaim the station. I would have wished to leave today, but we need time to gather all of our forces. The weapons on Ozytan’s ship are very powerful.’ He paused. ‘You said, when you arrived, that you had some important information for me.’
Alyce nodded. ‘I have a weapon which I believe may be effective against the Weerms, sir.’
She produced the white Cellzer, and showed it to the First Naval Lord. ‘This is a piece of medical equipment, but I have reason to believe that it may damage the Weerms.’
The First Naval Lord smiled. ‘Is that so? In that case, you might want to meet our prisoner …’
***
The First Naval Lord led Alyce and Glitz into the secret hangar, which was dark and enclosed. The lights were dim, and there was the sound of water dripping somewhere. It was little more than a wide, dark, empty space; it had presumably been built for ship storage, but it seemed unused. The only object in the hangar was a metal cage right in the centre. As they approached it, Glitz saw that there was … something inside it. It was a dark shape, lying at the edge. It was not moving. They drew closer, and Alyce stepped back in horror when she realised what it was. It was a Weerm.
‘After your visit to Chaos, we sent a flotilla to the planet. Ozytan and his creatures had already left; the planet contained only indigenous life. However, we did find this one Weerm that had been left behind. It is badly damaged — which was presumably why it had not escaped with the rest.’
‘Is it dead, sir?’ Alyce whispered.
‘Well, it is hurt — badly. But, in answer to your question, no, it is still alive.’
‘I wonder,’ Alyce said, turning the Cellzer over in her hands.
She felt somewhat guilty about injuring an unarmed, injured creature, but she knew she had no choice. She set the device to a +5 setting, knelt down, pointed it at the Weerm, and activated it. A beam shone out, making contact with the creature. Incredibly, it burned right through the creature’s skin. The Weerm yelled out in agony, and Alyce quickly switched it off.
‘Wonderful!’ the First Naval Lord exclaimed. ‘Give it to me! I shall have it reproduced within the hour, and given to every man! And woman!’
Alyce and Glitz grinned at each other. They weren’t going to let the Imperium fall without a fight. Ozytan probably thought his Weerms were invincible, what with their tough genetic makeup. But he was about to discover what the Imperial Navy was really made of — many of the higher-ranking officers might be useless, but the bulk of the force was dedicated and strong. The technicians worked faster than they had ever worked; the simple design of the Cellzer was analysed, and then duplicated on a huge scale. The work was not completed within a single hour, as the First Naval Lord had vowed. Still, by the end of the day, all of the members of the Navy had been issued with the devices, which seemed to be the only weapons that stood a chance against the Weerms.
On the First Naval Lord’s insistence, Alyce had taken him into their new ship, the Deliverer, to look around. Since they had landed on the planet, word had quickly spread that it was a unique and astonishing vessel. The First Naval Lord wandered around the flight deck, examining it in awe. He still didn’t know whether to believe Alyce’s story about how they had obtained it — everyone knew the Zierons were just a fairy-tale — but he could tell that it was a very special ship. After he had spent several minutes poring over the design, he sat down on the sofa in the control deck, and gestured for them to join him.
‘Do you have a command at the moment, Captain?’
‘No, sir. My last crew was disbanded several weeks before my mission to Chaos.’
‘Very good. I assume you are not prepared to let anyone else command the Deliverer?’
Alyce shook her head. ‘Absolutely not, sir. She is not a Naval vessel, but I am fully willing for her to be of use to the Imperial Navy. However, I must insist on commanding her myself.’ Almost as an afterthought, she nodded at Glitz. ‘And Glitz will have to join me. After all, it is his ship too.’
‘Fine. As I said, we fly to the Argive Sector tomorrow in order to seize control of Station 949. I am going to assign you a group of men — Marines, if I can arrange it — and you must join us on the mission. I have a feeling that the Deliverer may just live up to its name.’
‘Yes, sir.’ She paused. ‘If I may have permission, I would also like to bring another man on the mission. His name is Hans Tekka.’
‘One of the convicts who travelled to Chaos with you? The computer genius, I believe. Very well. It is a good idea. He may prove useful when you get to the station.’
‘Thank you, sir.’ Alyce paused, grimacing. ‘I think he’ll take some persuading …’
The First Naval Lord smiled. ‘Oh, no. You won’t have to do any persuading. He will not have a choice. I shall issue a Mandatory Enlistment Notice to his Net callsign. Then all you will have to do is arrange a place to meet him.’
Alyce grinned back. ‘Thank you, sir.’
The First Naval Lord was as good as his word. As soon as Tekka received the notice, he contacted Alyce and agreed to meet her on the planet Flora, which was in the next system. Without wasting any time, Alyce and Glitz took the Deliverer on a course to the planet. After a short, easy flight, they landed on the world. Flora was one of the worlds that retained a certain autonomy. It was a purely commercial planet, dedicated to the production of expensive oils found in certain plant species. As a result, the world was one huge flower farm — apart from a few small factories, landing sites and miniature towns, the world was literally covered in flowers. Glitz sneezed when they got out at the landing site; pollen was thick in the air.
‘Why did he want to meet us in a place like this?’ he muttered.
They waited in the shipyard for a while, until Tekka approached them, carrying a small grey box. He seemed to have improved in health since they had last seen him, although he was still pale and thin. Despite his app
arent good health, he didn’t at all seem pleased to see them.
‘I suffer from an acute respiratory condition,’ he said, in answer to their questioning looks. ‘I self-medicate with Oil of Thoralis, which contains a compound that minimises the effects of my illness. The planet Flora is one of the only places to obtain it.’
Another man stepped out from behind a nearby luxury cruiser and grinned at them. ‘Room for another one?’
Glitz could hardly believe what he was seeing. It was Doland.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘You could sound a bit more pleased to see me. I ran into Tekka again, by a complete coincidence, a few days ago, when we were both on the shipyard on Rechya. Tekka was looking to travel to the next system, and I’d just bought a new Pearl Class cruiser. So I agreed to give him a ride. Obviously, that was before he got the notice from the Navy enlisting him.’ He smiled. ‘So, when do we leave?’
