The Remnant

by Paul B Spence

  "Captain, if the Nurgg launch again –" Graham began.

  "I'm aware of that, XO," the captain snapped.

  "Ensign, what is our weapons status?"

  "Two missiles left, Captain. One plasma cannon still online, gun crews standing by."

  "Fire both missiles, maximum thrust!"

  The Lafayette was undamaged and able to fire four missiles from directly in front of the scout ship. The missiles consumed all of their fuel reserves to reach half the speed of light in less than twenty seconds. At that point they burst open, each missile deploying five warheads and ten decoys to become an expanding cloud of potential thermonuclear death.

  On the bridge of the Descubierta, now open to space because of the secondary explosions, Upper Shipmate Brian Zdansky counted the seconds till their missiles made contact. The remaining bridge crew sat in tense silence.

  Time dilation was working in their favor, reducing the Nurgg reaction times.

  The Nurgg ship was already going too fast for any evasive maneuvers to help. Their point defense neutron beams lashed out with superb precision, but there were ninety targets to choose from. Missiles streaked away from the enemy vessel toward the Lafayette. Eleven of the Federation warheads struck the scout ship almost simultaneously. The fusion warheads were each over twenty megatons, and the sensors of all of the ships were blinded by the sleeting radiation.

  A ragged cheer on the bridge turned to groans as the Nurgg vessel coasted out of the expanding shell of glowing gas. The ship was obviously damaged, leaking atmosphere and tumbling, but still alive, beams lashing out randomly.

  "Captain, Lafayette reports that we're too close for them to engage with missiles, and they were hit by two of the enemy missiles."

  "Acknowledged," replied the captain. "How long before we're in close weapons range of the enemy vessel?"

  "Twenty-three seconds, Captain."

  "Let's get those squid bastards."

  The Descubierta was closing on the doomed ship when the Nurgg scout suddenly exploded in a cascade of radiation. The Nurgg had anticipated being boarded and destroyed themselves.

  Graham was glad the battle was over and that he had survived, but he knew that the real pain was only about to begin. Soon damage reports would be coming in, and they would know just how many of their shipmates had died.

  "Take us back to the planet, helm," the captain said tiredly. "Notify the Loridell that the enemy has been defeated, and tell them they can return to station."

  Chapter Six

  The Loridell took over three hours to turn around and return to orbit around Cedeforthy. Mason decided to head back to the dig site so that they could take the shuttles back up to the ship.

  Lord Jeroen met them at the gate and spoke with Mason.

  "What's he saying?" Tebrey asked.

  Mason held up her hand for him to bide for a moment, then turned to him. "Lord Jeroen was concerned that we had been offended by something. He intended for us to stay for dinner." Mason bit her lower lip, obviously conflicted.

  "I take it that's a big honor."

  Mason nodded.

  "We need to get back to the ship, Doctor. We still don't know all the details of the battle. I've lost my datalink with the Descubierta, and that's bad."

  "I know. I just don't want to offend him."

  "Tell him that I have my orders, and you are to be back to the camp before the sun sets."

  "He's not going to go for that."

  "Just tell him."

  Mason turned and spoke to Jeroen for a few minutes. He suddenly nodded and walked away without a backward glance. "I don't know how you knew, but that seemed to be exactly the right thing to say."

  Tebrey smiled. "He looks military to me. I know how military minds think."

  "If you say so."

  Johnson was sitting in the skimmer looking bored when they came walking back. Tebrey didn't feel like dealing with the man's attitude and sat in the back with Mason and the other researchers. McGee sat up front with Johnson.

  The scientists at the dig site were in a frenzy of activity when they arrived. Some of them were pacing, waiting for Dr. Mason. Others were trying to pack their precious equipment to ferry it back to the ship.

  Tebrey quickly got them organized and sent them to the shuttles. The hell with the equipment, he thought. These people need to straighten out their priorities.

  He didn't relax until they were back aboard the Loridell.

  Dr. Anderson called a general science staff meeting for that afternoon, and Tebrey reluctantly joined it in the forward briefing room as the military attaché. The meeting consisted of the heads of each of the research teams and their assistants. Tebrey felt every bit an outsider at the meeting, and they certainly felt that he was one. He could sense their animosity.

  Tebrey tried to ignore their discussion of what had happened. He didn't want to get involved. He was occupying himself thinking about where Fleet would send him for his next assignment when he heard Anderson discussing their dig schedule and arguing over which teams were going to get priority access to the analytical computers.

  "Excuse me," Tebrey said, standing up. "As the military advisor for this mission, I feel that it is my duty to suggest to you that you should pack up the expedition and fall back from the system. The Nurgg constitute a very real threat to the security of this planet. I feel it would be extremely dangerous to remain."

  Dr. Anderson snorted. He made no attempt to mask his contempt. "I disagree, Commander. I see no reason whatsoever why we should simply pack up and leave. Our digs are at a critical juncture. The threat is over."

  "With all due respect, Doctor, you are not qualified to decide if the threat is over or not."

  "I know a scout vessel is hardly something to worry about. Your Fleet managed to destroy it handily enough."

  "All three of the ships were badly damaged," Tebrey said, having difficulty keeping his temper in check. "They can't use full thrust to get back here. The ships won't be able to reach orbit for another thirty-seven hours."

  "I heard they were taking their time to make a few small repairs and would be back after that. How badly could they be damaged if they can make it back without assistance?" the scientist replied. Tebrey could sense that he was feigning reasonableness but had no intention of reconsidering.

  "Two hundred thirty-five people are dead. Three hundred sixty-seven are wounded; over a hundred of those are in critical condition and may not make it back here. I'd call that bad, Doctor."

  "I've not heard anything about that! I heard that the entire battle barely even lasted an hour. Besides the Descubierta only has a crew of five hundred!" Anderson made it sound unlikely that Tebrey was telling the truth. He wanted to move on past this topic so they could discuss the important details of the continuing digs.

  "Those are the combined casualties from all three vessels. And for your information, the battle lasted much less than an hour. Battles in space are often quickly decided."

  "Well, whatever" said Anderson. "If they go about making unprovoked attacks against alien starships, then I suppose they may take some casualties. They should try diplomacy sometime."

  Tebrey found himself staring for a moment as his temper flared. "Unprovoked? Are you mad? These are the Nurgg we're taking about. They don't make treaties with people. They kill or enslave every species they meet!"

  "Now, Commander, you don't really believe that rubbish, do you? Why would a culture as advanced as the Nurgg obviously are want to enslave another species? It's ridiculous."

  "You just don't get it, do you, Doctor? You prattle on about treaties and making peace, and you know nothing about the Nurgg. Nothing!" He sat back down hard, eliciting a squeal of protest from the bearings in the chair.

  The Nurgg had been first encountered just over a century before, when they razed the colony of Abernathy at Zeta Tucanae. Since then, the Nurgg had moved into the edge of the Federation from coreward in the galaxy. No one had been able to locate their homeworld, des
pite the wealth of data gleaned from their ships' wreckage.

  The Earth Federation had joined with the alliance started by the Sentient Concord and most of the other governments along the coreward marches to combat this new menace. Even the Homndruu, never noted for their diplomacy or love of humans, had joined the Alliance.

  Nurgg physiology had baffled the Alliance scientists for half a century before they found a memory core containing the history of that species. They were far older than anyone had suspected, by almost half a million years. There were numerous references to other, older species in their history. It seemed that the galaxy was teaming with life, much of it violent and xenophobic.

  The pentapodal, methane breathing Nurgg weren't truly sapient; at least, not without help. They relied on extensive cybernetic enhancements for memory and thought processing. Young Nurgg were grafted with the memory of their species. An older species, the Achenar, had come upon their world and augmented them for use as biological robots. Some time later, perhaps within the last few thousand years, the Achenar were weakened by a devastating war with a species known only as the Jarrei. No details of that war were in the records, but the hold of the Achenar was broken, and the Nurgg rose up and destroyed them.

  Since then, the Nurgg had set out on a series of pogroms with a murderous zeal never encountered in another species. Some populations they destroyed outright, and others they enslaved to work in massive factories where they were worked to death. The Slith, reptilian members of the Rhyrhan Combine, had been subjugated for over thirty years. It was only the ferociousness of the Rhyrhan military, in their attempts to free the Slith, which saved that species from extinction.

  The Nurgg never responded to hails. They would not negotiate. They didn't take prisoners. They ruthlessly destroyed any armed resistance and tolerated no technology but their own on the worlds they conquered. Their entire species was completely devoted to wiping the galaxy clean of any life but their own.

  Their technology, originally acquired from the Achenar, was much more advanced than that of any of the Alliance species. Only by swarming them with superior numbers was the Alliance able to win any battles at all.

  Dr. Mason intruded on Tebrey's thoughts. "Were the ships really that badly damaged, Commander?"

  "I'm afraid so, Doctor."

  "Is there anything we can do to help?"

  "No, thank you. I'll pass your concern on to the captains of those ships, though. I'm sure they would like to know that the people they're dying to protect appreciate their efforts."

  "I want you to know, Commander," Anderson began, "that I will be lodging a formal complaint about your conduct and your attempts to subvert my authority."

  "You do that, Doctor. Much good may it do you."

  "Hmph. Well, my decision rests. We will continue our research. Without," he added, "anything, or anyone, getting in our way."

  "My objections are on file, Doctor. Do what you will." With that, Tebrey stood up and left, slamming his fist into the panel to open the door.

  Dr. Mason watched the lieutenant commander leave the room. Anderson is a fool, she thought with a certain harsh anger. Tebrey had been trying to offer sincere advice. She fervently hoped that Anderson's obstinacy wouldn't get them all killed.

  Anderson spoke. "It really is a shame that the military has managed to brainwash that man so thoroughly. He seemed reasonably intelligent."

  "I don't think that you're being completely fair, James. I think that we should at least consider that these aliens may actually attack us."

  "Honestly, Pierre, how can you think that? The man is deranged. Patricia, what did you think of him?"

  Dr. Patricia Haraguchi was the team's forensic pathologist. She was also a skilled psychologist. "I think that he's a man who is in a lot of psychological pain but dealing with it well. I haven't noticed overt signs of psychosis or anything like that. I'm not sure of the specifics of his case. I understand that he suffered serious injuries, possibly in action against the Nurgg."

  "So you're saying he's simply biased against the Nurgg because of past experience?" Anderson asked.

  "I'm not saying any such thing. I've not seen his medical file. I'm sure it is classified."

  "James, just consider for a moment that the man may be sane and competent, okay?" said Bauval. "If the Nurgg come back, they will undoubtedly attack our ship and possibly the planet itself."

  "I don't agree. If the military ships weren't here antagonizing them, they would have no reason to attack the Loridell or the planet."

  "I suppose that means we will be staying," Mason said.

  "I said that before, Dr. Mason. This expedition is too important to risk leaving at this time. You, of all people, should recognize that."

  Chapter Seven

  After twenty-two hours spent making emergency repairs to the Descubierta and the Lafayette, the taskforce crept back to the planet at minimum thrust. The Jianghu, weapons systems restored, traveled along behind to guard them from attack.

  The mood was subdued on the bridge of the Descubierta. Emergency patches had been made to the hull and atmosphere restored throughout the ship, but the deaths of two thirds of the crew had been a serious blow to the morale of the survivors. The dead that they could find were being stored in the aft shuttle bay, awaiting the memorial service that would be held later in the week. The crew were exhausted from the battle, the search and rescue for people blown out of rents in the hull, and repairs.

  Captain Hutchinson had been on the bridge the entire time. It had been needed to inspire the crew.

  "Captain?" Graham said quietly.

  "Yes, Commander?"

  "Might I respectfully suggest that you go get some sleep, sir?"

  Hutchinson chuckled. "Am I getting too grumpy for you, Michio?"

  "A little, sir. Not that I would have said it." The two had served together for years, and after what they had just been through, a little informality was tolerable. Graham knew not to push that too far. Captain Hutchinson was a by-the-book captain, but he was also a good captain. He never asked his crew to do something that he wasn't willing to do himself.

  "Of course not." Hutchinson sighed. "Very well. Wake me in four hours. I want to supervise the transfer of the wounded to the Loridell."

  "Yes, Captain."

  Graham watched his captain leave the bridge and then pulled up his report on the battle damage. Most of the internal damage to the ship had been caused by an overload in the forward fusion reactor. Normally reactors were jettisoned automatically if they went critical, but the hull damage had jammed the ejection port. The explosion killed the gun crews on the starboard side of the ship and half of the damage control personnel.

  The battle had been different from other engagements with the Nurgg he'd been through. The Nurgg scout ship had launched far more missile than ever before recorded, and the ship design was slightly different from those seen previously. If the Nurgg were changing their tactics and redesigning their ships, it could be big trouble for the Federation Fleet.

  Graham hoped that Fleet Command would respond quickly to their request for reinforcements; the Descubierta wouldn't survive another fight, nor could they run. He didn't want to be in the system when the Nurgg returned, and return they would. Once the aliens decided to move into a system, nothing could stop them. They would commit more and more resources to the battle until they took the system or destroyed all of the inhabitable worlds.

  Tebrey's data-spyder had turned up some interesting things.

  The alpha dig site wasn't the primary excavation site as Dr. Anderson had said. The expedition had started there, but then they'd moved most of the excavations to the beta site in response to information Dr. Mason had gleaned after her first visit to the village of Renivee, legends told by the locals about haunted ruins and demonic forces that moved in the night.

  Tebrey doubted that any of the aliens could still be alive down on Cedeforthy, but he understood how unsettled people could get when confronted with alien
monolithic architecture. He'd seen the ruins of Achenar cities on a few worlds: they were alien, in a way that Homndruu or Rhyrhan cities were not.

  The archaeology teams had logged three times as many hours at the second site, and they had managed to hide that fact from him with clever use of the skimmer and cover stories about surveys. The digging at the beta site had not been suspended as the captain of the Loridell had told him. It was ongoing. Tebrey wondered if Captain Thomas knew.

  A wide range of pre-colonization-era artifacts had been uncovered from the site.

  There was no longer any doubt that there had been a civilization present on Cedeforthy before the first human ships arrived. The artifacts became more advanced in nature as the age went up, and some of the most advanced artifacts were upwards of twelve thousand years old. So an advanced civilization had flourished on the planet and then inexplicably declined until it had completely vanished some time just before humans arrived. That put the civilization in temporal proximity to the Achenar, a fact that never should have been withheld from him.

  A few more modern artifacts that had been found could suggest a connection with that forgotten species. Some of the artifacts, old and new, had curious scroll patterns on them. There were also a few traces of odd, ornate alien script. So far the script had resisted every attempt at translation.

  Tebrey was certain about one thing: the artifacts were old and powerful. They represented a definite technological advantage for the Federation. Some of the artifacts looked like they could have been weapons. Who knew what else was waiting out there to be discovered? Surveys had found ruins all across the continent. More attention needed to be paid to those ruins. If the technology was Achenar, it would be in advance of the Nurgg technology, and that could win them the war.