by Neal Jones
"How do you feel?" the CMO asked.
"Much better. Thank you." Navarr slid off the exam bed and reached for her jacket.
"If you experience any more adverse reactions, or anything else unusual, don't hesitate to call me."
"Sure thing, doc."
Navarr walked out of the infirmary and headed for a PTL. She and Sikandra had returned from Chrisarii Prime two hours before, and the security chief was briefing Commodore Gabriel. Navarr would join them just as soon as she took a long shower and changed into a fresh uniform. As she entered her quarters and walked into the bathroom, she reviewed the last conversation that she and Sikandra had shared before their shuttle crossed into the Federation side of the neutral zone.
Navarr had been waiting for most of the trip for her partner to bring up the subject of her status as a field officer for the Chrisarii Ministry of Central Intelligence. But after a day and a half of small talk and silence, Navarr had finally broached the topic.
"I don't mind keeping your secret, Grynel, but I'm not naïve. You and I both know how easily loyalties can become divided, especially in times like these."
"Yes, I know," the tactical officer replied calmly. "And I would expect nothing less of you than to fulfill your oath to your uniform. Just as I will fulfill mine. My loyalty is - and always has been - to the Alliance. Until we are full members of the Federation, that is where it shall remain."
"And that's what concerns me." Navarr straightened in her seat and faced the Chrisarii. "What happens if you receive an order to sabotage Exxar-One? And please don't insult my intelligence by pretending that couldn't happen."
"You don't give me enough credit, Christine. And I honestly don't know what I would do if that situation arose. I won't lie and say that I haven't thought about it, but I'm being honest when I tell you that I'm not sure. Right now, I'm taking this one day at a time. As should you."
Sikandra had changed the subject then, considering the matter closed, but Navarr wasn't as confident. As she stepped into the shower, she couldn't help but think that this was one of those things that always came back around to bite one in the ass when one least expected it.
( 7 )
Colonel Alador Serehl stood behind his command chair on the bridge of the Chrisarii dreadnought Tl'Keth and quietly surveyed the two dozen officers currently standing watch at their respective posts. A dreadnought's bridge was as wide as it was deep, and like the command deck of Exxar-One, it was made of three levels. The upper level was where Serehl was now. His chair and the pair of consoles on either side of it were all that occupied this level. It was more a form of respect than of function. Every officer had to look up to address their commander, and Serehl could see everything that transpired on his bridge at any time.
The tactical and communications posts comprised the second level. Navigation, engineering, life support and all system backups were on the third. That lowest tier was where most of the officers were located, and Serehl swept a casual gaze over them, approving of the controlled efficiency with which his crew had operated thus far. Though every soldier who comprised the crew of the twenty-sixth battle group wore the uniforms of the Alliance, they had long ago sworn their allegiance to Vi'Sar and the Haal'Chai. A typical dreadnought crew complement was seven hundred, and a typical battle group possessed at least three dreadnoughts, sometimes as many as five. The other ten or twelve ships were a mixture of destroyers and support craft. Serehl's fleet had four dreadnoughts, seven destroyers, two frigates and two scouts. Hidden in the bellies of two of the dreadnoughts were a hundred, total, of the enhanced raiders, the same kind that had attacked Exxar-One two months ago. The fleet was less than day from the neutral zone border, and from there it was only another four hours to Exxar-One.
Serehl had commanded the twenty-sixth battle group during the war, and in the decade since the signing of the treaty, his fleet had been assigned to patrol the Kauramide and Sohnath systems. They weren't the only two alien worlds who had been conquered by the Alliance, but they were the most prominent, and the quorum elders were no fools. They knew that those pair of systems were a prime breeding ground for the rebellion, and they had diverted their most able and powerful battle groups there. What they hadn't counted on was officers like Serehl, one of the many military commanders who resented the cessation of hostilities before a firm victory could be obtained. It had been relatively easy for the colonel to contact Vi'Sar's eyes and ears among the Kauramide population, and, several months later, Serehl and Vi'Sar met face to face and began their plans for conquering the empire. It was time to return the Alliance to its former glory, and with the help of the Jha'Drok, they could do it in two decades or less, especially with the Jha'Drok's attention focused on their own devious plans.
It had taken several more months for Serehl to ensure that his flagship senior officers were as loyal to the Haal'Chai as he was. Most of them were, but a few were unwilling or afraid to commit, and more than one "accidental death" had been necessary to silence the opposition. The executions had been meticulous and well planned so as to not fuel any rumors among the ships' crews that might sabotage the entire operation and force Serehl to shed more blood than he could handle. The unfaithful soldiers were listed as AWOL, and the colonel left it up to the Ministry of Defense to inform their families and loved ones back home. There had been a couple houses who were wealthy enough and had enough clout with the government to launch formal investigations, but nothing came of them. The investigative officers were satisfied with Serehl's statements and duty logs, as well as those of his senior officers, and the official position of the Office of Military Command was that the soldiers in question were suspected of defecting to the Haal'Chai. Case closed pending any further leads.
It helped immensely that Serehl possessed enough seniority because of his length of military service to keep his chosen senior command staff as it was for almost a decade. None of the officers who had sworn their allegiance to the colonel and the Haal'Chai were transferred away from the twenty-sixth battle group, nor was that battle group assigned any other sectors except the Kauramide and the Sohnath. And keeping his true motives and mission a secret from the rest of the soldiers under his command was easy. One of the constants of any military force – no matter the alien species to which it belonged – was that a soldier followed the orders of his commanding officer, without fail and without question. Only the senior command officers of his flagship needed to be in on the secret. For the rest of the fleet, it was easy to keep their respective crews in line by adhering to another universal constant of any alien military force – information was dispersed on a need-to-know basis. Most of the officers – senior command and otherwise - didn't need to know. They simply performed their daily tasks without questioning their superiors or their daily orders, while Serehl maintained communication with Vi'Sar on a semi-regular basis. When the Haal'Chai general finally decided what he was going to do with his personal armada, he sent a message to Serehl that ordered the colonel to take the fleet into hiding at a set of prearranged coordinates.
That was two galactic standard months ago, and Serehl's official dispatch to the rest of the fleet informed them that they were going to be involved in a classified mission for the Ministry of Defense. Level two security alert was initiated throughout the battle group, and no one thought twice about the unusual deployment or the communications blackout, especially in the aftermath of the whole mess surrounding Exxar-One. Now they were en route to that outpost, cloaked and under silent running. No one outside the flagship senior command officers were aware of the fleet's true mission and its hideous objective. Everyone knew of the destination, but the thought that they were about to obliterate the starbase and renew open hostilities with the Federation never occurred to them. By the time Serehl gave the order to bring the offensive mainframe on line and open fire, it would be too late for his soldiers to escape their destiny.
The colonel nodded to himself as he settled into his command chair and pressed the button on
his armrest's com panel that summoned his steward. The female lieutenant appeared moments later, and the colonel requested a steaming mug of quis. The young soldier nodded and scurried off the bridge to procure the beverage, while Major Ri'Lmor, Serehl's second in command, appeared at Serehl's elbow to give him a compad. The colonel perused the systems update and then pressed his thumb to the scanner at the bottom. Major Ri'Lmor returned to his station to enter the report into the duty log, and Serehl sat back, savoring the feelings of power and triumph.
His orders from Vi'Sar were clear: destroy Exxar-One and leave no survivors. And while Serehl had every intention of obeying those orders, he was also going to take his time doing it. He had an opportunity before him to take revenge against the Federation, and he was going to use it. In the early years of the war, during an engagement in the Garir sector, Serehl's fleet had suffered heavy losses when it was taken by surprise by a Murdohn fleet that had been hiding in the radiation bath of a star that was about to go nova. Both battle groups were equally matched, and the dogfight had been vicious, bloody and devastating to both sides. In the end, Serehl had won, but the price was so great that only his flagship remained, and because of the heavy damage to its stardrive engines, it had taken several weeks to reach the nearest Alliance starbase. Thousands of good, loyal soldiers of the empire had been slaughtered that day, and Serehl himself had suffered a massive head trauma when one of the consoles beside his command chair exploded. The shrapnel had carved up the left side of his face, and he'd lost his eye and most of the hearing in his left ear. Bio-implants had repaired the damage to the latter, and while modern medical science could easily repair the former as well, the colonel had chosen to have the eyeball completely removed and a black patch fixed over the cavity instead. A dermal regenerator could have taken care of the multiple scars from the console debris, but Serehl declined that as well, allowing Doctor N'Tai to remove only the shrapnel itself. The colonel wouldn't even let him put burn cream on the wound, just some light bandaging and a de-con salve. As a result, the left side of his face was now a mess of tangled, wrinkled flesh that resembled a deserted and barren battlefield on the surface of a dead world. But that wasn't all. When the console had exploded, Serehl had been leaning away from it, looking towards the right side of the bridge to give an order to his tactical officer. The console's debris had embedded itself in his scalp and created places where the hair wouldn't grow back. So the colonel had shaved his head completely, and it added just the right touch to his whole scarred appearance.
Put plainly, Serehl looked like a monster. That outward appearance, as well as his advanced age and his reputation as a ruthless warrior of the empire, made all those who served under him fear him as a god. His word was law, and it had helped immensely in turning his senior officers to his will when he began conspiring with Vi'Sar to overthrow the high chancellor and the quorum. Only four had dared to defy him, and all of them were dead. Once he was finished with Exxar-One, he was going to return to the Alliance, rendezvous with two Sohnath squadrons and lead the assault on homeworld. By this time tomorrow, the Interstellar Federation of Peace would be at war with the Jha'Drok Emperium and the Chrisarii Alliance. It was enough to set Serehl's blood on fire, and he hid his gleeful expression behind the rim of his cup.
Only twenty-eight hours to go.
Chapter 23
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( 1 )
The blackness coalesced into shades of gray, with vague outlines of blurred shapes, and Commander Decev blinked several times, clearing away the tears. She coughed and then winced at the taste of sandpaper in her mouth. Her throat was parched, and she still had a dull, throbbing ache at her temples, but the pain wasn't near as bad as it had been when she was yanked out of her meld with the Erayan.
"Whoa, commander, easy does it." Doctor Burke, clad in a protective bio-suit, gently pressed Decev back onto the exam bed. "Take your time and relax before trying to sit up. Here's some water." She handed a canister to the science officer. "You've been unconscious for almost twelve hours."
"What happened?" The words caused another round of coughing, and Decev took several sips of water.
"Since I don't have a lot of experience with telepaths, my best interpretation is that you suffered some kind of mental whiplash. There's some slight swelling of the tissue around your nerve cells, but all other scans appear normal, so I'm not sure what caused your unconsciousness."
Decev nodded as she cast a furtive glance around the cramped space of the quarantine bay. She and Burke were alone.
"Your secret's safe with me, commander. I told McKenna that it was the Erayan that caused your condition. Which is mostly true."
"Speaking of which," Decev replied as she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, "where is she? Or it?"
"Next door. Bay three. It's doing fine. I just came on duty a few minutes ago, and since your scans showed you in good health I thought it was time to wake you up."
"Thanks." Mariah stood and walked to the room's only window where a privacy screen was raised. She pressed a command in the com panel to lower the screen and was relieved to see that Ilkara was awake.
Burke put away her scanner and started for the door. "I'm going to go look at some test results and then I'll be back to check on you."
Mariah nodded and pressed the comm button on the panel beside the window. Ilkara did the same on her side of the quarantine pane.
"I'm glad to see that you're all right, commander."
"You can call me Mariah."
"Very well. Mariah. How do you feel?"
"Much better, thank you. Can you tell me what happened?"
Ilkara appeared chagrined. "I'm afraid that I underestimated the fragility of your mind. When you asked me to wake up, I obeyed without thinking of the consequences. I assumed that you were prepared for the force of the separation. Obviously, I was wrong."
"It's all right," Decev reassured it. "I'm pretty sure there weren't any lasting effects." She paused, wondering where to go next, but Ilkara was looking at her with an amused expression.
"You're wondering if I'm male or female?" Decev's cheeks burned, but Ilkara laughed. "It's all right. I'm actually neither. I possess no reproductive organs, though I am capable of giving birth."
"Can you always read minds that easily?"
"If you are an indication of the rest of your species, then yes, I can."
Pushing her trepidation and embarrassment aside, Decev said, "Tell me about your people and how you came to be in a cryotube beneath that planet's surface."
"I will tell you what I can, but there's some things that must remain secret. I think you will understand why when I am finished." It paused, frowning slightly as if searching for a suitable place to begin. "In the simplest terms, my people originated in a small galaxy far from here. To you, it would probably be on the far side of the known universe. Our species is very old, and at the height of our empire's power, we had developed technology that allowed us to travel far beyond our galaxy.
"Our scientific curiosity compelled us to find a way to stabilize wormholes and harness their faster than light capability. This eventually led us to the creation of artificial wormholes. We built the hypergates and then transported them to other galaxies to further our conquest and exploration. All of that took several thousand years, and at the time that our empire collapsed, we had managed to construct almost five hundred hypergates."
Ilkara paused again, scowling, and it was clear it was preparing to edit the rest of its story. "Our empire collapsed from within, from a massive civil war that was initiated by many factors. One of the most important was our technological capabilities. There were many who believed that Erayans were infinitely superior to all other species, and that instead of peaceful exploration, we should bring all other races under our dominion. This caused a rift among our people that eventually grew so strong and deep that it created an intergalactic conflict. That war lasted hundreds of years and caused the demise of all Erayan
worlds and colonies, including the one that we are orbiting now."
Ilkara gave a mirthless laugh. "For all of our superior wisdom and knowledge, it seems that we could not overcome the baser instincts of our nature. In only a few centuries, all that remained of our once glorious empire was the ashes of dead worlds and vast fields of technological debris."
Puzzle pieces were suddenly falling into place for Decev, and she interrupted the Erayan's narrative. "That's what the Jha'Drok found. That's where they got the technology that they gave to the Haal'Chai."
"That's the same response that your captain made when I told her all of this," Ilkara said. It was about to continue but then realized Decev had another question to ask.
"In that cavern below your colony's surface, we found large pieces of your historical database missing. We're assuming that was intentional. Is that right?"
"Yes. It's one of the many security measures that ensures our technology won't be corrupted by younger races. It was also believed that our people would one day arise from the ashes of our self-destruction, and that we would return to our home systems and rebuild the empire."
"And you remember where your home system is, even after all this time?"
"Yes. But that information will remain secret for now. Captain McKenna and Doctor Burke have given me access to your ship's library database, and I've been studying the history of your Interstellar Federation of Peace. While I am pleased with most of what I've read thus far, there are a few ... sections that have given me cause to question whether or not your Federation is prepared for the knowledge that I possess."
"I see." Decev couldn't hide her disappointment.
Ilkara laughed softly as it reached out to place a hand on the window. "You have already discovered so much by awakening me. Doctor Burke has told me that my physiology alone is going to revolutionize many areas of your medical science. Apparently I am some form of a medical miracle."
