“Goddamn,” Bowen hissed, “those bastards have been hiding right under our feet.”
“We also got back Black Claw's genetic memories,” Dr. Parker added eagerly.
“Let me guess,” Bowen frowned. “Hellkin foot soldiers emerging from hatches in the ground camouflaged with the surrounding surface.”
“Yes, Captain,” Dr. Parker nodded. “It seems that the evil that has been said to reside here at the Kordam Formation has been the Hellkin all this time.”
“So this is a Hellkin construct,” Bowen growled. “How is that even possible?”
“Actually,” Dr. Bowen said, “we think that the Hellkin actually invaded the Kordam Formation and took it over. The design of the connecting tube stations does not match typical Hellkin technology.”
“So they stole it from someone else?” Bowen was burning from anger to outrage.
“Very likely,” Ed agreed with his son, the captain.
Bowen looked troubled. “Thank you, gentlemen. I should report this to Admiral O'Neil.”
“We'll keep examining our evidence, son,” Dr. Bowen said, “but I doubt we'll find anything new.”
Bowen looked at his father meaningfully.
“Every little bit helps, Dad,” Bowen nodded, “you taught me that.”
“True,” Ed agreed.
With that, Bowen exited the forensics lab.
Bowen made his way to CIC. Madhuksara smiled as he entered. “Captain,” she cooed, sounding pleased to see him, “what can I do for you?”
“I need to speak to Admiral O'Neil,” Bowen said.
“I had a feeling you might,” Madhuksara replied. “I've already put in a request for you to speak to him.”
“Always anticipating my desires,” Bowen chuckled. “You are truly amazing, Madhuksara.”
“Most men who say that to me are trying to get between my nethers, Captain.”
“Comes with your particularly...colorful past,” Bowen smiled.
“Yeah, I know,” Madhuksara smiled right back at her captain.
At that moment, a hologram of Admiral O'Neil appeared. He was dressed in a duty dress uniform.
“Make this quick,” O'Neil said, “I don't like holographic telepresence.”
“We will, Sir,” Bowen reported, “we have evidence of a Hellkin presence within the Kordam Formation. Many of my craft have detected Hellkin craft, but said craft have turned tail and run.”
“Can't imagine why,” O'Neil nodded thoughtfully, “after the pasting we gave them in Rigel.”
“We've also discovered that both Black Claw and the Kordam Party were murdered by Hellkin foot soldiers,” Bowen added.
“Well, that solves two mysteries,” O'Neil stared intently at Bowen, “three if you include the fact that the Hellkin are the nameless evil that lives in the Kordam Formation.”
“It is our belief that the Kordam Formation is a Hellkin stronghold, and has been for centuries.”
“I don't like it,” O'Neil snapped.
“There is something else,” Madhuksara said, “earlier today; we launched a recon probe to explore the interior of the Kordam Formation. The telemetry was abruptly severed. We're analyzing it now.”
“Contact me when you finish the analysis,” O'Neil was glum, and then he looked at Bowen. “In the meantime, Mitch, I'm going to consult Fleet Command. I'll contact you with a recommendation.”
“Understood, Sir,” Bowen nodded.
With that, Admiral O'Neil's hologram vanished.
“Keep me posted, Madhuksara.”
“Gladly, Captain.”
Bowen turned and left CIC. He quickly went to the bridge and approached Too Far.
“Too Far, it turns out this entire system has Hellkin riddled through it. Got any idea how we might get rid of them?”
Too Far stroked his chin with the back of a finger talon, curling a lip, showing his rows of sharp teeth. After a moment, he seemed to brighten; a wicked smile crossed his face. “I believe I have an idea.”
“Well, spit it out, man,” Bowen barked.
“We send in hell-hounds,” Too Far spoke with an evil smirk on his face.
“What exactly is a hell-hound?” Bowen asked.
“They are assault robots,” Too Far said, “they are built like...an animal from your human world...I believe you call it a wolf. They are designed to relentlessly hunt down and destroy their programmed target.”
“Program them to destroy Hellkin,” Bowen nodded, “and they ruthlessly hunt them down. What if the Hellkin destroy all the hell-hounds we deploy?”
“Not possible, hell-hounds are deployed from a fabrication base. The first thing they do is establish another fabrication base. That base begins fabricating hell-hounds, and the first thing those hell-hounds do is to establish yet another fabrication base. In an endless loop. Until commanded to stop.”
“So they're built like wolves,” Bowen grunted, “but they spread like a disease.”
“If we wanted to deploy a weapon that acts like a disease,” Too Far sneered, “we would launch a nanite weapon like the silver mist or the gray flood.”
“Let's use the hell-hounds. How many will we need to deploy?”
“One for each planet,” Too Far said, “we program each initial fabrication base to target the Hellkin, and then the fabricated hell-hounds will hunt down the enemy.”
“How long will this take?”
“Considering the hell-hounds don't sleep,” Too Far grinned, “they have regenerative power cells so they can operate constantly, and programmed to get into everything they can, and taking into account the sheer amount of territory they'd have to cover, I'd say at least six months to fully saturate the Kordam Formation with them.”
“Deploy them,” Bowen snapped. “Ready fifteen bombers, each will move a hell-hound drop pod to one of the fifteen planets.”
“Yes, Sir. I will work with Landry on this.”
“Good man,” Bowen patted Too Far on the shoulder.
“Captain Bowen, you are needed in CIC,” came Madhuksara's voice from the bridge speakers.
Bowen reached for the holographic Intercom key on Too Far's console, and mumbled, “I'm on my way.”
The captain left the bridge and returned to CIC. He found O'Neil's hologram standing with Madhuksara. He was surprised to see O'Neil again so soon.
“That didn't take long, Jake,” Bowen said.
“Fleet Command wants you to hold position,” O'Neil barked, “we're mustering an assault force to invade the Kordam Formation and destroy the Hellkin.”
“In that case,” Bowen smiled for a change, “you'll find the enemy nice and softened up for you.”
“What do you mean?” O'Neil frowned.
“We're preparing to deploy hell-hounds.”
“Good idea,” O'Neil agreed.
“Gentlemen,” Madhuksara said. “I believe the recon probe's telemetry is ready to be viewed.”
“Play it,” Bowen snapped.
Madhuksara gestured to one of the immersive control stations flanking the hologram tank. The crewman in the immersive control station touched a holographic key. Presently a display appeared. It showed a vast interior of the Kordam Formation. The interior was a vast open space. And despite being completely enclosed by the fifteen planets, the interior was quite well lit by what appeared to be mirrors lining the tube stations that connected the planets. And despite this, the probe's telemetry showed a large spherical object deeply shadowed in the far distance. The shadowy object grew larger in the view, as the probe moved closer to it. It became quite obvious that the object was very large. However, before the object was close enough to be identifiable, the video ended. Bowen and O'Neil looked at each other uneasily.
“I think we've got a problem,” Bowen grumbled.
“That's my cue to leave,” O'Neil sighed. “I'm going to see what I can do to expedite that assault force.”
“Understood sir,” Bowen said, “we'll get those hell-hounds deployed ASAP!”
&n
bsp; “Very well,” O'Neil nodded. However, before O'Neil's hologram could vanish, the intercom sounded.
“Captain,” came Cowboy's voice from the intercom.
“What is it, Cowboy?”
“The Excalibur is sending us a live feed from their scanners.”
“I want to see it, Cowboy,” Bowen barked.
Presently, a holographic close up of a section of the Kordam Formation. What had previously been dismissed as a peculiar intersection of tube stations where there was no planet, rippled and became a large opening. The shadowy sphere flew out of it. It was obviously quite large. Bowen estimated it was about the size of a large asteroid.
“Send to the Excalibur,” Bowen snapped, “order them to fire upon the object.”
“No time, Sir,” Madhuksara said. “The sphere is already executing a hyperjump.”
Precisely as Madhuksara mentioned, the sphere vanished in a flash that left behind a rippling ring of visible energy. Bowen looked at O'Neil.
“We've got a bigger problem,” Bowen growled.
“I'm going to expedite the deployment of that assault force,” O'Neil announced calmly.
“Understood, Sir. We're launching our bombers to deploy the hell-hounds.”
“Good man,” O'Neil said, and then his hologram vanished.
Fifteen bombers launched from the Atlantis' shuttle deck, seeming like a swarm of bees flying out to defend their hive. The bombers scattered in all directions, each one flying to one of the fifteen planets of the Kordam Formation. As each one closed in on its target planet, the bomber launched a drop pod containing the fabrication base for the hell-hound assault robots. Upon reaching the ground, the pod deployed an anti-gravity field to cushion its landing. When the pod touched down, it opened like a flower. The moment the pod opened, the disk-shaped central section immediately constructed a hell-hound assault robot. The robot jumped off the platform as another hell-hound was manufactured. This one too jumped off the platform as a third was fabricated and jumped off in time for a fourth to be replicated. When this fourth hell-hound jumped off the platform, the platform created a duplicate of itself. Two of the hell-hounds picked up the platform in their jaws and placed it on the back of a third. The new platform secured itself with a localized gravity field. Then the four robots ran off with their platform. As soon as they were gone, the platform began fabricating hell-hounds, which jumped off and ran off. In CIC on the Atlantis, Bowen, and O'Neil, attending via holographic telepresence, watched as the bombers did their job.
“I wonder if the Hell-Hounds will be enough,” Bowen mused.
“The assault force has launched from Alya Station,” O'Neil stated. “They're going ahead with their attack. We're removing the Hellkin from the Kordam Formation, thus depriving them of a strategically important site within Alliance territory.”
“That it's going to be difficult, Sir.”
“We've already got help,” Lovandiel spoke from the doorway.
Bowen and O'Neil looked and saw the ambassador stepping up to them.
“I apologize for not coming sooner,” Lovandiel said. “I was finalizing some last minute details.”
“What sort of help have you procured for us, Ambassador?” O'Neil nodded respectfully.
“In issuing requests for military forces to drive the Hellkin away, I managed to obtain plenty of aid. The Zetabots are contributing a legion of soldiers downloaded into warrior bodies. Additionally, the Elnore are also contributing a significant portion of their elite forces. And in a final surprise, the Shrive are also sending five legions of Fighters, as well as a legion of Thinkers as support, logistics and tactical strategists.
“I'm impressed,” Bowen chuckled. “I think I actually feel sorry for the Hellkin.”
“We will certainly have enough forces to shorten the amount of time needed to wrest the Kordam Formation from the Hellkin,” Lovandiel agreed.
“Excellent,” O'Neil said, “when we've kicked those bastards off the Kordam Formation, we'll be able to colonize it.”
“Maybe,” Bowen shrugged, “let's claim the Kordam Formation first, before we start setting up real estate.”
With that, Admiral O'Neil's hologram vanished. Bowen turned to Madhuksara and saw the exhausted look on her face.
“You look tired, Commander,” Bowen spoke with mild concern.
“I am exhausted,” Madhuksara agreed with her captain, “all this bothersome nonsense about organizing an invasion of the Kordam Formation from four different military forces has worn me out.”
“Fancy joining the Old Man for a drink in the O-Club?” Bowen offered.
“I'd love to,” Madhuksara said, “just let me go to my quarters first.”
“What for?”
“If I'm going to accompany my commanding officer to the O-club for drinks,” Madhuksara blushed prettily, “I'm going to get out of this uniform, put on a sarong and let my hair down.”
“Really,” Bowen chirped, sounding more interested.
“Well, I certainly want my captain to be seen with a pretty girl on his arm,” Madhuksara spoke flirtatiously batting her eyes at her captain.
Chapter Ten
As the Atlantis and her battle group held their positions around the Kordam Formation, a massive armada of ships burst from hyperspace, leaving behind brief flashes of light and short-lived rings of rippling energy. The armada was led by ships from the Elnore fleet ranging from small destroyers to the dazzlingly beautiful Elnore star galleons. Behind the Elnore ships were Shrive war dragon dreadnoughts flanked by Shrive destroyers, cruisers and frigates and surrounded by clouds of bird-like Shrive starfighters. These ships were arrayed around a flotilla of Shrive troop transports. Ranged in logically even and regular clusters of ships were Zetabot starship bodies, each disgorging Zetabot starfighter bodies and warrior transport bodies. This super-cluster of ships was further flanked on either side by Galactic Fleet starships. Atlantis' sister ships, Pacifica and Shangri-La led identical battle groups, which were escorting flotillas of transport ships carrying an assault force of Fleet Marines. As the massive armada moved into orbit around the Kordam Formation, the troop transports separated from the starships and descended down to the planets of the Kordam Formation. They distributed their forces evenly so that every planet had a military presence of some sort on it. The Shrive Fighters chose to establish their surface headquarters near the defile where Black Claw was killed. This was because the crew of Atlantis had found the Heart of Blood, their greatest cultural treasure. They had made no bones about venerating the site where Black Claw was killed, and the Heart of Blood lost for 750 years. Though the Heart of Blood had been restored, and returned to the Shrive home world, the Shrive Fighters decided to build a shrine at the entrance to the defile where Black Claw died, and restore the site to its last known appearance, according to Black Claw's genetic memory.
In the bedroom of Bowen's quarters, his uniform lay scattered about the room. Madhuksara's sarong and panties lay in a crumpled heap near the bed where she had dropped them. She lay beneath him, moaning dramatically as he made love to her. She writhed beneath him, reveling in the feeling of him penetrating her. Soon they finished their love making and lay cuddling together, basking in the afterglow of great sex.
“How was it?” Bowen chuckled dryly.
“Heavenly, Captain,” Madhuksara said, “I've not enjoyed sex that much since my porn queen days.”
“Really,” Bowen raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn't think I'm better than the hunks of man-flesh you must have had sex with in the porno movies.”
“Sex is different for a girl when she's having sex with a guy that she's being paid to have sex with for the holo-cameras,” Madhuksara sighed. “It's impersonal, and there's no feeling in it, except for the fake feelings we give it so we can give our viewers a great show. Having sex with you wasn't like that.”
“How so?” Bowen teased a finger in the valley between her breasts.
“You weren't being paid to ride me for a camera. Yo
u honestly wanted to have sex with me because you find me attractive, and wanted to give me pleasure in return. It was wonderful.”
“How did you get into porn?”
“I ran away from my filthy rich parents at sixteen,” Madhuksara said, “I wanted to escape their restrictions. My boyfriend at the time turned out to be a guy looking for gullible girls to work as whores in the high class brothel he worked for. I was whoring for a producer in the porn industry who offered to pay me to have sex in front of a camera. I did that until I was eighteen. That's when I discovered that I was pregnant. They gave me until I started showing to work. Then they ditched me. I worked in a niche porn market doing pregnant porn, but by then I was so disillusioned that I wanted out. I worked literally until I went into labor, and had my daughter. That's when I joined the fleet.”
“I didn't know you had a daughter,” Bowen frowned.
“Technically, I don't,” Madhuksara shrugged. “I gave her up for adoption.”
“Why?” Bowen growled. “You could have kept your daughter and joined the fleet. In fact, the academy would have gladly granted you special dispensation to take care of your daughter.”
“At the time, keeping her would have reminded me of my life as a porn queen.”
“You say that,” Bowen said, “and yet you kept your porn star name.”
“Captain, I was a stupid girl at the time,” Madhuksara sniffed a little with a tear starting to form in the corners of her eyes. “I was scared. I had just had a baby, and was frightened that I would struggle to support my daughter.”
“Don't you regret giving her up?”
“Every day,” Madhuksara started to cry. “There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wonder about my little girl. I want to know if she's happy, does she have a good family, does she hate me for giving her up...does she even know me?”
“Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't,” Bowen tried to be consoling; he was really trying, but having to connect with a woman’s feelings seemed impossible most of the time. “Have you tried to contact her?”
The Atlantis Chronicles- The Kordam Party Page 15
