“Let them pass.”
The guards stepped aside. Only two rangers entered the conference room: An officer and the one with blue eyes. Nearing Krajenar, the pair halted, assumed the position of attention, and completed a bow.
“I am Captain Taleer, and this is Private First Class K’olt,” the officer said. “Ei’veth Forest Regiment.”
Krajenar nodded, the realization settling in. “Yes, yes, that’s it.” She returned the bow. “At ease, gentlemen. Please, at ease and come with me.”
Krajenar led the two rangers into a private office near the conference room. The office had a floor-to-ceiling window that gazed upon an expanse of low granite buildings. Their dark surfaces dulled the bright sun’s blue light and cast the office with a soft glow. She sat in a chair behind a large desk and invited the soldiers to sit as well.
“No thank you, ma’am,” Taleer said.
“And how about you, PFC Zyvolz K’olt of the Ei’veth Forest Regiment, discoverer of Sekkalan listening posts? Would you care to sit?”
Zy faltered.
“Not to worry, PFC. I recognize you from data and images in our intelligence file on that episode. I must say, you look much bigger and stronger in person than what shows up in our file. Perhaps military service has transformed you into a fierce warrior.”
“Perhaps, ma’am,” Zy said. “That day seems so long ago and much has occurred since then. So much…”
“If I may, Major,” Taleer said.
“Yes, Captain, please proceed.”
“Our regiment has surrounded about thirty Sekkalan drop ships. They used the forest as a landing zone, presumably after unloading troops near the city.”
“They probably don’t want to get shot down heading back upstairs. Our defenses inflicted serious losses on them inbound.”
“Yes, sir. That was our guess too.”
“It’s possible the Sekkalans will open a temporary bridge exit near them and send more troops their way for transport.”
“They have that capability?”
“Something we’ve just recently realized they can do. It seems they use a legacy bridge entrance, but then have the ability to shift its exit point at will. We suspect it takes significant power. If you see Sekkalan troops and equipment pouring out of an inky sphere near those transports, the supply point could be the Sekkalan moon itself.”
Taleer and Zy shifted on their feet. Zy also tightened his hands into fists.
Krajenar nodded. “If you can somehow confirm the supply point with a drone, then try to get off a tactical Supay warhead into it. Wouldn’t end the war, but it would sure kill a lot of those red-chested devils and do some significant bridgehead infrastructure damage.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Taleer said. “That’s very helpful to know. We will prepare for that. Also, we did have a specific plan as it relates to the transports, and we seek SIGINT data from your unit.”
“What is your plan and what SIGINT do you need?”
“We intend to seize the drop ships, plate them with kojan tyk, and invade one or more of their capital ships. In short, we plan to go on the offensive, take the battle to them and win, but we need more information on their ships.”
Krajenar sat wide-eyed. Her mouth sagged open.
“Which is why we need the starship SIGINT,” Taleer said. “Do you have any data that would help us?”
Krajenar offered a slow nod. “We do. Not much, but we can provide you with our SIGINT on Sekkalan starship movements and numbers that we’ve managed to collect since the invasion began. It’s a hodge-podge, but it’s something. We think they are using asteroid clusters to hide their vessels.”
“That’s a start, ma’am, and we are grateful for whatever you can provide.”
“Will you need a SIGINT analyst to interpret?”
“No ma’am, we have several analysts that we can draw upon for help.”
Krajenar furrowed her bumpy forehead then scratched it with a sharp claw. “You know, this plan of yours, it’s somewhat far-fetched. It’s bold, but has complications. What makes you think you’ll succeed, let alone gain any ground for us?”
“Faith in divine guidance, ma’am,” Taleer said. “Nihav has called forth a Kal’iveth to lead us into space in order to achieve victory.”
“So, you’ve had a prophecy?” Krajenar watched Taleer and Zy nod. “How can you be certain of the meaning? How can you be sure…?”
“We have faith,” Taleer said. “We have faith that we will succeed and that PFC K’olt will lead us to victory.”
Krajenar looked at Zy. The young Kal’iveth raised his head. Mesmerizing blue eyes met the major’s blank expression.
“Ma’am,” Zy said, “not everything about that day in the highlands six months ago was in your reports. Just before I encountered the Sekkalan, Nihav spoke to me. He told me that when the heavens fall, I would carry the sword and shield in His name, and lead the fight against evil in the stars.”
Krajenar blinked and shook her head. “When the heavens fall?” Her father had used the same expression on the vidcomm the morning of the Sekkalan invasion.
“Nihav has also said the Sekkalans fear me. I have confirmed this through personal surveillance of Sekkalans guarding the troop transports. They fear my speed and strength. I am as ‘swift as a comet’ to some of them. The last thing the monsters see before I kill them with my sword are my blue eyes. For lack of a better expression, the ones who fear me seem to have ‘nightmares.’ These disruptions to their regeneration periods create processing errors for them. Their fear interferes with their reality. They have glitches.”
“Processing errors…?” Krajenar stood. “Glitches you say?”
Zy and Captain Taleer provided a simultaneous, “Yes, ma’am.”
“A vulnerability,” Krajenar said. “These machine-creatures may be highly advanced, but they are vulnerable.”
“These dreams, or visions, must be like a virus,” Taleer said. “A gift for us from Nihav that weakens our enemy. Ameo Nihav.”
“A virus? Yes…Ameo Nihav.” Krajenar paced the area behind the desk several times. After an abrupt stop, she swiveled toward the rangers. “You’ll need pilots of heavy aircraft. Many such pilots are in bomb shelters, their aircraft are destroyed. I’ll arrange for couriers to fetch volunteers. You’ll also need experts in…in…”
“Starship systems, navigation, and so on?” Taleer said.
“Precisely!”
“I have other rangers scouring the university archives and the military academy for potential support on that.”
“Very good, Captain. We should also try some of the trade boards. Some of their experts have quietly resumed space ship projects since the Esmerian campaigns ended. Modeling and testing, not much more than that, but I’ll send someone to inquire. And the kojan tyk armor retrofits to the drop ships? You’re sure you have an adequate supply?”
“Without providing details, our higher HQ has reassured us the necessary resources are available. Metallurgists are preparing panels for hull application once we deliver the drop ships.”
“I recall some myth about stockpiling of kojan tyk…” Krajenar said, a claw tapping her lips.
“Yes, ma’am,” Taleer said. “Prophecy proclaims an abundant need will exist for it someday in a great war against evil that will span the galaxy.”
Krajenar grunted and planted her eyes on the two Kal’iveths. Though battle scarred and exhausted, they exuded dedication. She gazed at Zy. Tall, strong, and magnificent. Then there were the ultra-rare blue eyes. Determined and compassionate, not lost. His bloodstained and broken armor plates showed every sign of sacrifice and perils endured. Yet, there he stood, a mere teenager on a collision course with the Sekkalans. “Zy,” she said, “why do you think Nihav has called upon you?”
“Ma’am,” Zy said, placing his right hand over his hearts, “Nihav calls upon all of us. I’ve been called to wield the sword and shield in His name. His will brings unity and peace, but only when we
choose to follow. And I am no different from you. He has called upon me, just as He has called upon you. His voice may be heard by all. We need only listen.”
Krajenar glanced at Captain Taleer then back at Zy. “Captain Taleer, you and your soldiers will have what you need for your mission.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“But no good war effort relies solely on one key plan. My team and I are hopeful that we can unlock additional strategies.” Krajenar gazed at the ceiling then back at the rangers, the Kal’iveths. Their swords shimmered in the sunlight entering through the office’s window. “You may have just helped me…helped us find a key. With any luck, perhaps all of us together will win this war against the Sekkalans and restore peace, if not unity as well.”
“Yes, ma’am. Ameo Nihav.”
“Indeed. May Nihav be with us all.”
<> <>
After Taleer and Zy departed with their SIGINT, Taulan approached Krajenar in the conference room. “Interesting dataset they wanted.”
“Yes. I have a feeling they’ll make good use of it.”
“Care to fill in the rest of us?”
“Let’s just say they have a bold plan that involves taking the fight directly to the enemy.”
“In space, from what I can tell.”
“And now it is our turn.”
“Huh?”
“Before the rangers arrived, I think both of us may have keyed in on some intelligence that suggested a pattern of sorts.”
“Yes.”
“Something to do with bridge redirections, perhaps related to prisoner movement?”
“You saw it too?”
“I think the pattern revealed itself to us at about the same time.” Krajenar grinned at Taulan. “Perhaps you even saw it before me.”
Others in the room overheard the conversation and gathered around. Taulan nodded at Krajenar’s recognition of him in front of their comrades. “Thank you, ma’am, but it was Captain Stokkard who pointed out the emergent pattern to me.”
All heads swiveled toward the diminutive engineering expert, Len’aa Stokkard, who stood behind most of the others.
“Thank you, Captain Stokkard,” Krajenar said. “Nice work.”
“You’re welcome, ma’am.” Stokkard said. “Scattered watch-team reports about changing ink hues in our legacy bridges to Sekkalan are what got my attention at first. Then I noticed something else from aerial micro drone flight data. The enemy had put in more security, more troops, around the bridgehead.”
“Then the prisoner movements through the bridges started,” Krajenar said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Krajenar’s pulse raced. “And we’re certain the Sekkalan legacy bridges were the only ones that reportedly showed changes?”
Nods returned from around the room.
“There is a pattern about the prisoner dispositions too,” Taulan said. “Some they kill, and some they don’t. They pile the dead ones in ditches and set them aflame.”
“A message of fear, of intimidation?” Lieutenant Tikmort, the Psy-Ops specialist, said.
“Or because they are monsters with an agenda,” Krajenar said. “Otherwise, why not just eliminate all of the prisoners? These Sekkalans are monsters so why keep any prisoners alive? Unless…”
“Unless they plan to transform our Mokisiaan soldiers into Sekkalan monsters too,” Stokkard said. “Why go to all the trouble of shepherding prisoners and shifting bridges? Let’s face it, what else would be worth the effort, ma’am?”
Like others in the room, Krajenar’s face grew pale at the implications of Stokkard’s analysis, but she continued the Captain’s train of thought. “Then their victory must depend upon their ability to transform prisoners. If so, then we can expect their campaign, for now, to focus on use of the quantum bridges.” Krajenar let out a quiet hiss, and then looked at Taulan. “The data shows they lead them all the way through the redirected bridges, correct?”
Taulan nodded and said, “Absolutely. They take all living captives through them but their exit point is unknown.”
“Alright, that remains our priority, then,” Krajenar said. “Let’s assume their prisoner operations take significant energy and resources, which can only be supplied from a terrestrial location. The ink pattern would support a terrestrial source over a space location. We will call these locations ‘nodes.’”
Captain Souhlins, the team’s communication expert sighed loud enough that most in the room heard him. “So what?” he said. “Those nodes could be for any purpose. Their location will determine their purpose, and their purpose will determine their location. It is a circular line of reasoning, and we can’t break into it without having any idea what we’re talking about.”
“It all comes back to a lack of understanding about how they think,” Taulan said.
“There is more to it than that,” Krajenar said. Their fear interferes with their reality. They have glitches. “Thinking is not their way anymore.”…the ones who fear me seem to have ‘nightmares.’
Taulan raised his wrinkled brow.
“Warrant Officer Paz’egh,” Krajenar said, “how much of the Sekkalan’s brain was replaced by computer technology?”
“Well, ma’am, it’s more a matter of which parts not how much,” the Warrant Officer replied. “The lower brain functions were barely touched, except for reflex centers, such as pain receptors. Now the upper cortices and lobes, well, that’s an entirely different matter. There the replacements are extensive and highly invasive…”
“So, the fact is,” Krajenar continued, “the Sekkalans are not thinking in a way that we as Angorgals are used to.”
“But why change so drastically? What are the advantages to these massive integrations?” Taulan said.
“Uniformity,” Lieutenant Roustak Qev’arc, the computer software and virus analyst, said. “Predictability. Control. The parts aren’t anything without programming. One possibility is they sought to overcome individual weaknesses in favor of centralized coding to give them uniform superiority. They traded individuality for conformity governed by processes intended to accomplish set objectives.”
“Then facing their demise,” Taulan said, “the Sekkalans must have changed out of desperation. Technology offered salvation, it offered certainty, and they embraced it to the point where even their bodies and minds were…converted.”
“And now that is their mission: convert or destroy. There is no room for tolerating anything else,” Stokkard said.
Krajenar nodded. “Convert or destroy. Thought was replaced by code, by processes. They are processing.” These disruptions to their regeneration periods create processing errors for them. ”And where there are processes, there exist limitations and, therefore, vulnerabilities.” She glanced around the room. Her team was silent and focused. Each held a part in any effort to succeed and they all seemed ready to give it.
“Unlike the Sekkalans,” Krajenar said, “we Mokisiaans are still free. We may falter, but we get back up and learn from our mistakes, if we choose to. In adhering to code and processes, they have not escaped their demise…they haven’t escaped anything…just managed to go blind to all of the other possibilities…So when another possibility occurs, it interferes with their reality and they have glitches. I should have understood this sooner, but thanks to you and our Kal’iveths, I do now. And just like them and their fellow rangers, it is also time for us to go on the offensive.”
Krajenar paused and looked at Lieutenant Qev’arc. “How are your computer programming skills these days?”
Chapter 9
Operations
Taulan leaned over in bed, his eyes moist with tears of sadness for his lover. He frowned and put a hand on her shoulder. “Kraj, you don’t need to be the one to do this. Stop trying to live up to—”
Krajenar reached up and held Taulan’s wrist. “You know that’s not the case this time. There is no other who can do this. Who else can try and collate it all if this works?”
�
��Qev’arc, Tikmort, or Souhlins. I could. Anyone of us can.”
“You probably could. But I won’t let you do this.”
Taulan blinked at the expression of tenderness in Krajenar’s voice. “You can’t pull rank on me just to protect me.”
“Yes, I can. Just like I can with the others. No, this is one job that I can’t ask or order anyone else to do. But that isn’t why, at least, not the only reason why I have to do this.”
“For your pride?”
“For what’s left of it? Maybe. Maybe for my family, or for living up to my family’s history. To satisfy my father’s expectations. For Mokisia. Maybe. Maybe, I can’t let myself be a failure. Maybe that is all part of it. But none of it is the real reason.”
“Then why? Why must you go on this mission and risk your very life? I may never see you again. I may lose you. You know how much that hurts me to think about?”
“I know, and I am so sorry.” Krajenar kissed Taulan’s forehead. “When my age of service arrived, I chose my path based on the real me. That was a long time ago, but I do remember it. Somehow very quickly it changed, and it became about my reputation. Obligations and responsibilities set in and I focused on fulfilling those and forgot about me. I forgot what called me to my path.”
“What was it?”
“Well, somehow I must not have lost it entirely because you noticed it. I think that I was so taken by you that you must have brought it out in me, at least enough for you to see it.”
“Your intense curiosity and inquisitiveness.”
Krajenar hummed and rubbed her nose along Taulan’s cheek. “Yes. It is who I am, and I have neglected it for far too long. It is calling me, and I’ve decided to listen.”
Curling up closer to Krajenar, Taulan nuzzled her neck and stroked her blue-streaked belly. “That is good, but I still don’t understand why that means you need to go on this mission.”
“Ah, remember what you said about the Sekkalans seeking salvation in technology?”
“Yes.”
“So, who in the name of our ancestors gave them that technology? They certainly didn’t create it themselves. They were beaten and no more advanced than us. Find the answer to that question, and it will explain a lot. It will explain what this war is all about.”
War Torrent Page 7
