Renegades: Origins

by Kal Spriggs

  Tier Eight Investigator Khlen let him stand in silence for a long moment, “After Senior Scientist Gurn’s demise, you went to work at the research labs on Thran as a Technical Assistant. You developed a series of strength enhancement drugs originally intended for labor castes. You also implemented production of these drugs before full completion of the testing procedures. The drugs also boosted aggression as a side effect, which earned your full promotion to Scientist when you developed it into a battle drug for use in riot dispersal.”

  Rhxun nodded, “This has proven to be of obvious benefit-”

  “The drug side effects also include long term addiction, mental instability, and hallucinogenic properties if improper dosages are administered,” Khlen interrupted. “These side effects were noted by Scientist Vxor before general distribution, though he suffered an unfortunate accident before he could publish those notes.”

  “Yes,” Rhxun said, “He fell into the biological reprocessing equipment during his inspection of the facility.”

  “Yes… and the two menials on duty both were both long term test subjects of your drug Xenaltropine, the most addictive of the drug series you developed,” Khlen said. Rhxun felt his stomach twist again. Clearly his food had not agreed with him, normally he had much better control over his bodily functions. “Your following assignment took you to Xarkhun, where you joined a team to develop a means to harness the local populace as a servant race into the Chxor Empire.”

  Rhxun felt an unfortunate realization that he knew where this line of discussion would go. Even so, he attempted to guide it towards his success, “Yes, and there I developed an essential translation implant that we imbedded into the Xark diplomats. This allowed the Chxor diplomats to explain our purpose and brought the Xark into the Chxor Empire without bloodshed. The Xark have since been one of our preeminent servant races and their militaristic capabilities have proven exceptional in conquest of other lesser races.”

  “Indeed,” Khlen said. “In fact, every senior diplomat report noted your essential contribution to the mission. The entire expedition met with unparalleled success, except for the termination of Scientist Hruun. He was working on a similar device, only designed to be held rather than implanted, and his research was almost completed when…” Khlen glanced down at her datapad. “Well, it looks like he also suffered an unfortunate accident.”

  “Yes…” Rhxun trailed off. He realized that his knowledge of the incident might look suspicious.

  “Indeed, he seemed to have suffered from a failure in the environmental systems within his quarters. He suffocated overnight. An unfortunate loss, I’m sure.” The Tier Eight Investigator stared at Rhxun for a long moment. “But his termination meant that you had time to complete your work and draw the accolades of the diplomats, who did not care how the translation occurred, only that it did so.” Khlen cocked her head slightly, as if she needed some slightly different view to consider Rhxun from. “This secured your promotion to Senior Scientist and then your assignment here, where you were allowed to look into loyalty implantation to improve productivity.”

  Rhxun chose to remain quiet.

  “So, you understand now why I find you to be an interesting problem?” She seemed to take his further silence as assent. “On the one hand, you have proven valuable to the Chxor Empire. On the other, you have proven extremely dangerous to those in your way. If not for this setback, I would expect that to eventually include the Benevolence Council. This in turn, would suggest subversive if not treasonous intent. The punishment for such actions, of course, is immediate termination.” Khlen glanced down at the large red button to her left. “Very easy to conduct from this location, of course.”

  “I have never had subversive intentions - “

  “No, but you also have little more than contempt for the intelligence of anyone besides yourself. You possess a dangerous quality of self confidence, which were I to use an emotional label, I could call arrogance. You believe in yourself, to a degree that I would label fanaticism, and anyone that violates your faith becomes an obstacle you must eliminate.”

  “Those who cannot understand my importance-”

  “Yes, this behavior is the issue I have identified,” Khlen said. “The obvious solution is to vent you out the airlock. Of course, this then leads to your extremely capable intellect. You have, to date, eliminated three Scientists and three Investigators through a mixture of guile and calculation. I cannot entirely rule out some method which you might have devised that could kill me should I conclude your termination to be necessary.”

  “According to Investigation Procedure Fifteen, Paragraph nine, an Investigator will come to all decisions in a manner impartial to the consequences to themselves-”

  “I am aware of that section,” Khlen said. “I am also aware that I have already filed a termination order of my own should I suffer an unfortunate accident. It begins with: ‘For High Crimes and Treason against an emissary of the Benevolence Council.’ But I would find that to be unfortunate. You are a valuable resource and your experiments have proven to be of some use.”

  Rhxun took a moment to consider that. “A wise precaution. I appreciate your honesty and appreciation of my abilities. However, I would like to assert that as long as you understand my importance to science, we will have no issues. As soon as I am allowed to go back to work and continue my vital research-”

  “Do not misunderstand me, Rhxun,” Khlen interrupted. “I think that ordering your termination is a hazard. I also think that your intelligence could be an asset to the Chxor Empire. I did not once say that you could or would return to your laboratory or your research. You are too dangerous… and sooner or later some accident like this was bound to happen.”

  Rhxun considered that for a long moment. “I do not understand your proposal, then. If I am not to be terminated and I am not to be reinstated, what does this leave me?”

  “This leaves you with one option, an option that I am certain an intelligent and capable person such as yourself can make the best of. If you are sentenced to labor at a minimal security prison facility I would propose that you would then escape. Due to your previous encounters with humans, you would probably make your way to human space, correct?”

  Rhxun considered this for a long moment. “This would be the next best place to conduct research. I would have many opportunities for new fields of study there. This theory, however, has the inherent assumption that I would escape.”

  “Are you saying that you would not be intelligent enough to escape?” The Tier Eight Investigator asked.

  Rhxun felt his facial muscle twitch begin to ease. “Of course not. It will be simple. More difficult will be conducting my research in such limited conditions.”

  “Very well,” Khlen said. She tapped a command on the console in front of her. A moment later, the light above the airlock turned green. “I have made preparations for your next sequence of experiments, then. You may board this prison transport. It will take you to a prison station.”

  Rhxun cocked his head in thought. “I do find this acceptable. However, I am curious what benefit you see in this for the Chxor Empire. I will be unable to return if I escape, and I will likely cause some damage to the Chxor Empire when I do. How does this benefit the Benevolence Council?”

  “Senior Scientist Rhxun… I personally think that someone made a grave error in judgment when they allowed you to reach adulthood. I think that your sense of self importance and arrogance has no checks… that your experimentation - if left unchecked - will sow chaos and disorder wherever you go. I hope you escape and that your travels take you far from the Chxor Empire, because wherever you go, I am certain you will cause destruction, disorder, and chaos. Also, if you go to human space, your special brand of insanity will damage the humans rather than your own race.”

  Rhxun shook his head, “I see that I am still not understood. However, I appreciate your honesty and your faith in my intelligence. I promise you that I will return, and that my contributions t
o science will change the Chxor Empire for the better.”

  “As a Tier Eight Investigator, I hereby strip Senior Scientist Rhxun of all authority and rank. I furthermore decree that his sentence is labor at a prison facility until he has paid his debt in full to the Chxor Empire. Sentence to begin immediately.”

  Rhxun started for the hatch.

  “One last thing, Prisoner Rhxun,” Khlen said. “Was I correct when I stated that you had some measure of defense should I chose your termination?”

  Rhxun paused. In reality, he knew he owed the Investigator little. Still, he felt she must perform some essential services to the Chxor Empire. Certainly, she had presented him with a course of action that, while not the ideal, did offer some interesting new fields of research. And there is the termination order if she should die, he thought, though it depends on how she backed those up. He turned around, “You will want to dose yourself with the antidote to the accentia toxin. In the meantime, please strive to keep your thoughts calm and do not perform any strenuous activities.”

  Rhxun turned back and stepped aboard the prison transport.

  Declaration

  The Renegades, Book Three

  Pixel stretched his stiff shoulder muscles and considered his reflection in the mirror. His light brown hair stuck up in tufts and his bushy brown eyebrows jutted out. His glasses had taken a beating and he made mental note that he needed to either replace them or to apply a lot more electrical tape. His battered coveralls seemed to have more patches than they did original material and a pair of welding goggles hung around his neck.

  I should definitely grow a goatee, he thought, it will really pull together my whole evil scientist look. Who knew, perhaps it might alter his face enough that no one would recognize him from his wanted poster. He felt a surge of bitterness at that thought. One more reminder, he knew, of why he should stick to machines and leave people alone.

  He stepped back from the sink and looked around the oversized bathroom. He felt certain it had some appropriate nautical or spacer term, but he didn’t really care about that at the moment. What Pixel cared about was the scale. The entire ship seemed designed to make him feel like a child. The sink went up to his shoulders and he could only see his entire face in the mirror above it when he stood on his tiptoes. His gaze went to the Ghornath toilet and he shook his head, “This is ridiculous.”

  Someone had put a stool in place to allow humans to climb to an adequate height to use it, at least. Still, Pixel felt like Alice in Wonderland or possibly a kindergartner who had walked into a high school by mistake.

  He went to the door, then waved his hand across the controls. The hatch slid open, and Pixel immediately forgot his previous bemusement. He pulled out his datapad as he stepped out and began a quick sketch of the hatch. The engineer made a note to check the ship’s manuals and see how the mechanism worked. After days and weeks spent aboard Chxor ships, a hands-free hatch seemed marvelous. Especially since most Colonial Republic ships he’d been aboard had similar muscle powered tech for things like doors, when they didn’t have some kind of clunky hydraulic system or worse.

  He shuddered as he remembered the spring loaded system aboard the freighter he caught out of Lithia. Each hatch had slammed open and shut like a blunt guillotine. The captain and crew had disabled about half of them, but that in itself made for a multitude of safety issues. The ship’s chief engineer had horror stories about those hatches, Pixel remembered, stories that made the hair on the back of his neck rise even now.

  I do not believe in ghosts, Pixel thought, much less doors infused with malignant spirits of dead colonists. Even so he patted one of the automated doors as he walked past. Pixel loved well designed machinery. He just wished he had someone else who appreciated the same things to share it all with.

  He pulled up the ship schematic on his datapad and nodded to himself. He had yet to become familiar with the ship. Some might consider it small for a military ship, but the Ghornath corvette still stretched over a hundred meters in length and had four levels. It would take him a of couple days to get to know the details of the corridors.

  Longer than that, he estimated, to get to know the machinery and systems. Pixel glanced at the countdown on the side of his screen. It would take four days to travel to 443C98. From the Chxor star map and what little remained of the Ghornath records, the system had no planets of note, just a couple cold gas giants and some barren rocks. They should have a longer journey from there to Nova Roma space, or whatever independent colony they could reach.

  Pixel turned right at the next intersection and waved his hand in front of the door control. It slid open and he stepped into the slightly louder engine room. His eyes went immediately to the control booth. Unlike most human designs, the booth lay at the center of the room. It was an open platform that looked out on the entire room. Ladders connected it to the various areas. The Ghornath made excellent use of space, Pixel thought to himself, even as his brain sought to make sense of the ladders and catwalks that seemed to hang from the ceiling as well as several of the walls. He didn’t know how they managed to keep the different gravitational fields in balance, yet their engineers clearly saw one more method to trim space requirements and improve access to the systems of the ship.

  Pixel approved of that. In particular, he liked how the design forced him to think about the best way to examine each section of the room. That in turn made him want to consider how and where he should begin his survey of the entire plant.

  He stood there for a long moment, lost in thought, when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. Pixel turned around and found Eric Striker stood just inside the door. The tall, lean former soldier looked nervous. Pixel might have felt surprise at Eric’s presence, but he didn’t. “What’s up?”

  Eric gave him a nervous smile, “Hey, uh, I was going to do some work, and I wondered…”

  Pixel gave him a nod, “Yeah, some more explosives, right?” He had enjoyed their previous work together… but not so much the results.

  Eric nodded, “Yeah, and you helped out a lot last time. I think we make a good team, in that regard.” The former soldier’s twitchy stance reminded Pixel of a wind-up toy, jerky, almost uncontrolled movement. His personality seemed just as out of control, which on the one hand, Pixel liked the energy and enthusiasm of the other man, on the other…

  “What happened back on the shuttle?” Pixel asked.

  “Oh, with the bomb?” Eric shrugged, “Ariadne thought the Chxor were a danger so she triggered it. Probably a good move. There were enough of them that if they had attacked, we couldn’t have stopped them.” He didn’t seem particularly broken up over the death of the Chxor civilians. Then again, Pixel found it hard to weep over them either, not after what he had seen in Chxor captivity.

  “Actually, I meant that I heard you shot the wounded,” Pixel said.

  “Oh, that?” Eric snorted, “One of them tried to shoot Anubus in the back. After that, I felt it best to make sure of the rest of them. Not that I would cry any tears over the Wrethe, but I didn’t want someone else to get hurt.”

  “You could have tied them up or just checked them for weapons and dragged them aboard the ship,” Pixel said. He studied the other man’s face and he wished suddenly that people came with display panels.

  “Yeah, but you blew that ship up anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I killed them then or later,” Eric said.

  Pixel shrugged at the reminder, “Yeah…”

  Still, it felt wrong to him that Eric had killed the wounded Chxor. Pixel would have expected that behavior from Anubus or even Rastar maybe, but not from Eric. No… he thought, Rastar has that moral code of his, he probably wouldn’t hurt the wounded. “Well, I’ve got a lot of work to do down here, I need to figure out this engine and all its systems, check the maintenance logs, and just figure out what I can. I’m not sure when I’ll be free.”

  “I can understand that,” Eric said. He turned to leave, “Oh, Simon wanted a team meeting in abo
ut fifteen minutes, up on the bridge.”

  “Yeah?” Pixel glanced at the chrono on his datapad, “Sure thing. What’s it about?”

  “Dunno, maybe about that female Chxor officer we took prisoner when we captured the ship?” Eric shrugged. “She’s exceeded my two living Chxor rule, so I say we space her or Run. Depending on the info she has, I’d suggest Run.”

  “You know the little guy saved you, right?” Pixel asked.

  “He had Rastar hold me down while he cut shrapnel out of me with a shiv,” Eric said. “And, he tried to cut me open later to see how well I healed. And, for that matter, he wants to open Ariadne’s head and put her brain in a jar. And, if that isn’t enough… he’s a damned Chxor!”

  Pixel stared at the other man for a long moment, “With how you talk to Ariadne, I’d almost think you’d prefer he do that.”

  Eric looked away, “For all that she annoys me… no, not really. She means well, and I realize she cares about us. She just drives me nuts. I’ve had some bad shit go on in my life. I’ve come to realize that you can’t rely on others; you got to look out for yourself and then your team. She goes on the way she has been, she’s going to end up dead.” Eric met Pixel’s gaze, “I’ve buried enough friends that I don’t want to be there for her death either. So, I try to get her to grow up and worry about herself.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t worry about fixing her,” Pixel said, and from Eric’s scowl, the advice was not well taken. “But I’m an engineer, not a psychologist, so what do I know?” Pixel rolled his eyes. He looked down at the chrono again, “Well, I’m going to head up there, probably swing by the galley to get something to eat. You up for it?”

  “Nah, I need to find Crowe still,” Eric said. He turned around and stepped out of the engine room. Eric gave one last wave over his shoulder as the door slid closed behind him.

  Pixel brought up the ship’s schematic again, and then gave a nod, “Two rights and a left and then up the stairs…”