The Sol 3 Agenda

by Brian Kitchen

  “I think he sees humans as the ideal host for their species, more so probably than Aos Si, who are aware of what the Andromedans are capable of. I also think he’s trying to find ways of cloning his species.”

  “He was trying to find a map,” John said. “He had me open a safe at Trevaskis House, but there wasn’t anything in it. He said the map was of Antarctica when it was free of ice.” Padraig looked at Morann, who gave a slight nod.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Morann?” Padraig asked.

  “That he’s looking for the Badhbh’s laboratory?” Morann replied. Padraig nodded.

  “I thought the Badhbh was one of the Triumvirate, a ruler,” John said. “Why would she want a laboratory?”

  “The Badhbh is ‘The Keeper of Knowledge’ within the Triumvirate and the last Badhbh was also one the greatest scientists that the Aos Si have ever known,” Padraig explained. “Morann has probably told you, how the Infertility Plague affected our race and amongst many projects that the Badhbh was engaged in before her arrest and imprisonment, were experiments in cloning. The Badhbh’s main laboratory was on Tír na nÓg, but when she fled from there before the Civil War ended and came to Earth, a new secret laboratory was built somewhere in Antarctica, before the continent became covered in ice. Where it is, I have no idea, but there is a strong possibility that your grandfather knew and may even possibly had a map showing its location.”

  “Wouldn’t JT have been able to extract that information from John Senior, Padraig?” Morann asked. Padraig looked at her and shook his head.

  “I doubt it, Morann, as JT wouldn’t have been looking for a map if he already knew its whereabouts. No, I’m sure both John Senior and the Badhbh would have ensured that mental blocks would have been put in place, to stop either of them divulging the laboratory’s location to a hostile party.”

  “Why would my grandfather have known where the laboratory was. Surely as a Varn, he and the Badhbh would have been enemies. Mortal enemies at that. Why would she share that information with him?” John questioned.

  “You don’t know who your maternal grandmother is, do you, John?” Padraig said, looking across to Morann, who shook her head.

  “All I know about her was that she died before I was born,” John answered now looking closely at Padraig. “Why? Who was she?” Then John realised that Padraig had talked about his grandmother in the present tense. “Is my grandmother still alive then?”

  “She is, and she was the Badhbh, John.” It was Morann who replied.

  John looked stunned and took a moment or two, to gather his thoughts.

  “But that would mean ……”

  “Your grandmother, the Badhbh and John Trevaskis Senior fell in love and the result of that liaison was your mother,” Morann finished for him.

  “Your grandmother the Badhbh and your grandfather, who incidentally was the Ceannaire or leader of the Varns, knew that the Civil War needed to be ended and arranged to meet secretly.” Padraig took up the story again. “They managed to arrange a truce first and then the cessation of hostilities. During the negotiations they also fell in love and has Morann has said your mother was born as a result of that relationship. They fled to Earth, for as you can well imagine there was some considerable hostility towards them from both the Varns and the Imperials, who thought that they’d betrayed them. Your mother was born on this planet. Unfortunately, JT found them here and took control of your grandmother first and then using her as his host, took control of your grandfather.”

  “Then this JT killed my grandmother too then?” John asked. Padraig shook his head.

  “JT had discarded her body when he took possession of your grandfather and she should have died. The Badhbh had been experimenting with some new advanced medical nanobots and had been trying them out on herself,” it was Morann who now took up the story. “The brain is very badly damaged when an Andromedan abandons a host, but the new advanced nanobots had managed to repair the damage and although she had no memory of her previous life or who she was, she lived. A member of the Fianna found her and took care of her and she is still alive today, John, and you have met her.”

  “What do you mean I’ve met her?”

  “John, Catherine Penrose is your grandmother.”

  Chapter 12

  Cornwall, July 1985

  For all his faults Marcus King was a very good detective and had a good suspicion that the old man, Walter Trenoweth, hadn’t been telling him the truth. King had decided to follow Trenoweth when he left the pub and so waited long after last orders was called, for the old man to go home. When having said his final goodbyes to his cronies Trenoweth left the pub, he seemed a little the worse for wear and was tunelessly singing some old song to himself as he swayed from side to side. Walter made unsteady progress down the street away from the pub and then turned into the next one and was totally unaware that King was following him at a distance.

  King could see a church tower up ahead of them now and they seemed to be nearing the end of the houses, but Walter walked on past the church, until he came to a cottage standing on its own. Going up to the door, Walter fumbled with the key, taking several attempts to get it into the keyhole. Finally, he managed it and opening the door walked into the unlit cottage. There was a terrible screech and a loud hiss as a large, brown tabby cat came hurtling out of the house. This was followed by a curse and a crash. King took the opportunity to walk through the open door, slamming it shut behind him and found himself in a room which obviously served as both a living and dining room.

  The room was barely illuminated by the light of a single unshaded bulb, which hung from the ceiling, but looking around the room, King saw that Trenoweth was sprawled upon the floor. A china cabinet he must have barged into and overturned, was lying on top of him, its contents, most of which appeared to be broken scattered around him.

  “Oh, oh dear,” Trenoweth was groaning.

  King walked up and looked down at him. Then he got hold of the top of the cabinet and with a struggle it being very heavy, eventually managed to lift it off Trenoweth. He looked down at the old man who was now looking owlishly up at him.

  “Are you injured?” King enquired, not out of compassion, but necessity. He needed information from the old man.

  “Don’t think so,” Walter replied, trying to get up. “What are you doing here? Bugger!” Trenoweth then swore as a piece of glass cut the palm of his right hand.

  “Luckily for you I was just passing by,” King replied, reaching down and helping Walter back onto his feet. “Otherwise you could have lain there all night.” King then grabbed hold of the front of Walter’s shirt and pushed him roughly into a nearby armchair.

  “Oh, my leg,” Walter screeched, his hand shooting to his left thigh which had a shard of glass embedded in it. Quite deep by the look of it. “What did you do that for?” He demanded to know.

  “I don’t like people lying to me,” King hissed at him, leaning down and then head-butting Walter, breaking his nose. King then stood back up. “We can play this the hard way if you like, or you can tell me all about the Penroses.”

  To encourage the old man, King then lent down and twisting it first, roughly pulled the glass shard from Walter’s thigh. It had been in deep as he’d suspected, and the wound began to bleed profusely. “Nasty wound that,” King said menacingly. “I once saw someone bleed out from a wound like that. You’d better tell me all you know and fast, old man, if you want to live to see another day.”

  Walter didn’t want to betray Cath Penrose, but he could see that the blood was flowing freely. He also had a dicky heart and knew that he couldn’t take any more of the violence that King was bound to mete out, if he didn’t tell him what he wanted to know. Besides which, Cath had always told him that she didn’t expect the people who served the Penroses, to put themselves in danger.

  “All right, all right, I’ll tell you all that you want to know,” Walter finally agreed, “but I need something to stop the bleeding.”
/>
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Five minutes later King had left Walter’s cottage and was on his way back to the pub. The old man had told him where Catherine Penrose lived and had also given him directions of how to get there. Walter had also told him that a young woman was staying with Cath but that he didn’t know whether it was Kate Penrose, or not. Walter hadn’t seen the young woman himself and so couldn’t give King a description.

  Before leaving the cottage, King had roughly tied a cloth he’d found around Walter’s leg, as he didn’t want the old man to bleed out. That would have been murder and fortunately for Walter, King only murdered those he was instructed to, by either the Rectifiers, or the State. King had however made sure that Trenoweth was unconscious when he’d left him, as he didn’t want the old man alerting Catherine Penrose that he was on his way.

  He’d used the special knock out drops that he’d been issued with by the Rectifiers. They were colourless and tasteless and so King had put them into a glass of water that Trenoweth had asked him for. Walter had gulped the glassful down, not suspecting anything untoward. Within moments he’d dropped fast asleep, snoring like a pig and would be out cold for about six or seven hours, giving King plenty of time to locate Kate Penrose.

  Arriving back at the pub, King went straight to where his car was parked and got in it, starting the engine. For a moment or two, before driving off, King had wondered whether to phone his contact in the Rectifiers and tell them what he’d found out. He decided against it however, deciding instead that he’d sooner successfully complete the mission and then inform them.

  Lost Valley Manor, where Catherine Penrose lived was a couple of miles from St Just, but eventually King came to the side road which Trenoweth had told him about. King turned into it and drove on down the road which descended into a valley. Very soon he was driving through some woodland, keeping his eyes peeled for the stone wall that Trenoweth had told him that he would spot, before he came to the main gates to the Manor.

  Seeing the wall, King slowed the car down and very soon he saw the columns of the gate posts up ahead of him. He drove past the high wrought iron gates and on until he eventually came out of the woodland where the high stone wall ended. King saw a turning off the road leading up to a field gate up ahead of him. He turned off the road and parked up in front of the gate.

  Before getting out of the car, King took off his suit jacket and threw it onto the back seat. He then got out of the car and went to the boot which he opened. From out of the boot King took a black zip-up jacket he kept there and put it on. Normally he wouldn’t have bothered with a jacket, but he needed something to go over the shoulder holster that he was wearing, which held the Glock 17 pistol issued to his unit of Special Branch. He didn’t want to be frightening any of the yokels he might meet walking back up the road.

  Finally, King then took out a pair of hiking boots and put them on, leaving his highly polished black shoes in the boot. He locked the car and started walking back up towards Lost Valley Manor, where Catherine Penrose lived and hopefully Kate Penrose was staying.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Cambridge, England, May 1975

  Padraig and Morann had explained to John that Catherine Penrose had no idea that she was John’s grandmother, or that she had once been the Badhbh.

  “Your mother became the Badhbh-in-waiting when she became of age but was never inaugurated, as to be honest your mother didn’t want the role,” Padraig explained. “The Morrigan was dead, killed by JT and the Nemhain was imprisoned and to those of us Imperials who had remained loyal to the Triumvirate, the role of Badhbh was then superfluous,” Padraig sighed and looked intently at John. “Things have now sadly changed John; and the need has arisen for the Triumvirate to be reinstated and you will play a role in that.”

  “I’ll play a role in it. How’s that?”

  “You’re going to help me and Morann rescue the Badhbh-in-waiting and help her and the Morrigan in Waiting become inaugurated. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of freeing the Nemhain and convincing her that she must forgive those she felt responsible for her betrayal. Plus, we must find Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Fianna fleet. Oisin can help us with that, but we need to find him too. We also need to thwart JT’s nefarious plans, but that’ll have to wait a while.”

  “That all?” John asked sarcastically. “And who’s this Oisin?” John noticed a quick look pass between Morann and Padraig.

  “Oisin, in the absence of his father, Finn Mac Cumhaill, is the acting Ceannaire of the Fianna, well what’s left of it in this galaxy,” Padraig replied, and John thought that he saw him give Morann, who looked about to say something, a warning look. John decided to let it go for the time being. There was a lot to get his head around and he really didn’t need any further complications.

  “So, why do you need to reinstate the Triumvirate?” John decided to ask instead.

  “Well John, apart from the matter of JT and the fairly imminent Andromedan invasion, about six years ago, Oisin accidently travelled into the future, to Earth time 3050. He found Earth devastated, no life remaining on it,” Morann explained. “The Sol 6 base had also been destroyed and three comets which had been diverted from their usual paths were wreaking havoc throughout this solar system. Oisin’s Deltoid was capable of interstellar travel and so he travelled to Tír na nÓg and found that it was the same there too. In fact, the whole of the galaxy had been devastated. Oisin guessed the devastation had been caused by the Fomoire, who were the only race known to be able to control comets and use them as weapons of war. He then decided to see if he could find out when the devastation had been caused.”

  “How could he possibly do that? John asked

  “Well, he had a time frame to use, “ Padraig explained. “Oisin knew everything had been all right in Earth time 2870, as he’d travelled there once and so sent a very advanced probe forward in time from that date. To cut a long story short, he found out the Fomoire had launched an attack on the Aos Si Confederation in 3010.He also found out that in Earth time 2009, the Aos Si Confederation had apparently decided upon a policy of pacifism and had abolished all their armed forces. A Fomoire scout ship had passed through Earth’s solar system a few years after that and learned of this by hacking into the database on Sol 6 base.

  “When was that Padraig?” Morann asked.

  “October 2017,” Padraig answered.

  “Why would the Fomoire launch an attack, I thought the war between the Fomoire and Aos Si was long over.?” John asked.

  “Vengeance.” Padraig answered, “and because it’s what the Fomoire do. There can never be peace between the Fomoire and us. Their whole reason for living seems to be to wreak havoc wherever they go. They never forget and never forgive; they won’t stop until every last one of us is dead. We need to reinstate the Triumvirate, so the policy of pacifism doesn’t become reality and we can fight back, even prevent the Fomoire attack if we can.”

  “But won’t reinstating the Triumvirate cause another civil war?” John questioned.

  “Not if it’s done in the right way,” Padraig explained. “The Triumvirate wouldn’t be seeking their old powers and would instead become part of the Confederation. The Triumvirate are however the only ones who can organise a defence against the Fomoire. The Fianna are bound by ancient law to only obey their commands and only the Triumvirate control the weapon depositories scattered around what was the Empire, including the depositories on Earth. The Fianna fleet only serves the Triumvirate which is why Fionn Mac Cumhaill took them out of this galaxy when the Empire was overthrown. We need that fleet if we’re to stand any chance at all against the Fomoire.”

  “So, where do we start then, Padraig?” John asked.

  “We first have to go forward in time to rescue the Badhbh-in-waiting.”

  “I suppose we’d better get started then,” John said looking from Padraig to Morann. Who both nodded in agreement.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Earth Orbit, May 1975

  John, M
orann and Padraig teleported back to the Deltoid that John and Morann were using from Padraig’s flat. Once on board the Deltoid, Padraig gave Morann the destination coordinates, along with the year to be travelled to on it which she inputted.

  “Cornwall, July 1985 and that’s the location of Catherine Penrose’s house if I’m not mistaken,” Morann said glancing at Padraig.

  “Well spotted, Morann and I think that we’ll need to draw weapons from the armoury before we land there.”

  “Expecting trouble?” Morann looked at Padraig quizzically.

  “You know me Morann, I always prepare for trouble,” Padraig answered. “I take it you know how to use an Immobiliser, John,” Padraig turned to ask John.

  “What a stun gun, yes of course.”

  “Stun gun?”

  “I thought it an apt description of the immobiliser,” John explained. An immobiliser was a short, fat barrelled weapon which fired an invisible projectile made up of microscopic nanobots. On hitting a living target the nanobots instantly rendered it unconscious by disrupting brain function and also instantaneously repaired the entry wound, leaving no trace whatsoever. The only side effect for the victim was that their memory was wiped clean of the previous 24 hours events.

  “Well yes, I suppose that’s an apt description of the weapon,” Padraig agreed. “Well we’d better go and draw some stun guns then,” Padraig said heading towards the armoury, followed by John and Morann.

  “We’ll also need a change of clothes,” Morann announced. “Fashions were different in the 1980s and we don’t want to look out of place.”

  The Deltoid had an extensive wardrobe of clothes covering just about every era and onboard facilities for manufacturing any that they hadn’t got, using a machine that John had nicknamed the Replicator. All three of them found clothes that they liked in the wardrobe and so the clothes they’d chosen were resized to fit them perfectly.

  “Well, I think that’s just grand,” Padraig announced looking at himself in the full-length mirror in the dressing room, after he’d changed into his outfit. Morann looked at John and they then both shook their heads.