He punched the activate button on the communications panel and spoke into it.
“Croatoan, this is the Specter with three inbound for landing on the planet. The Empire is on its way to invade the Temple at these coordinates.
I suggest you begin sending people to whatever shelters you have. We will, with your permission land shortly and will divulge more”
Blake sent the message.
It took a moment before a hesitant voice came back over the line
“You speak English” it stated with a certain amount of awe in his voice.
The captain smiled and punched the communications button again
“Yeah genius, from earth, you know Sol system, Blue planet, Virginia” and sent the message.
When the response came Blake could hear the word Virginia repeated as a whisper in the background “Unknown ship, please land at these coordinates, and we will have a planetary representative meet you.” The cockpit beeped.
Shira accepted the coordinates
“Cap, it’s not far from the Temple, so we are in luck. Do you want me to set down?”
Blake thought about it, he was paranoid by nature, but we were talking about humans,
but humans were some of the worst beings of all when he thought about what he had seen in the galaxy.
“Shira, set us down at the coordinates,
Rom and I will go out, and you stay with the ship, keep it powered with weapons on.
No one, I mean no one but us is to come back aboard, if they try, get out of here”
Blake said to Shira who in turn nodded an affirmative and switched the weapons and internal defenses on.
An hour later the Specter touched down at the given coordinates.
Blake, Rom, and Xera waited until the ramp lowered and then with guns in hand walked off the Specter into the presence of a platoon of waiting soldiers. Blake looked out over the crowd.
“Well fuck me,” he said in a low tone just so Rom and Xera could hear.
He tightened his grip on the kinetic carbine as did the other two.
He took a deep breath and stepped off the ramp onto the solid ground.
A mild-looking woman approached,
she was older with steel grey hair and a bit on the plump side.
But one look at her piercing green eyes and Blake could see she was anything but dull,
they searched his face, tracing every line and fold and then she regarded the others, the moment between them forgotten.
From the look of the well-pressed suit and the way the troops seemed to defer to her, she was someone of power.
“My god you are human,” she said staring at Blake, her green eyes seeming to glint in the sunlight,
she must have been a looker at one-time Blake thought. Then she spoke knocking the captain from his thoughts
“Are you really from Earth?” she asked in a low tone. Blake shook his head in acknowledgment “Yes, as of, well, a few months ago, I think? Could be a year by now” he said trying to remember how long it had been.
It had seemed both like forever,
and as if no time at all had passed,
it was odd that it could be both.
Blake shook this thought off and assessed the troops. They were a ragtag group, but determination showed in every face.
These were not soft people, he recognized the look from Afghanistan and Iraq,
these were a people familiar with war and hardship. They were not afraid to fight or die if necessary. Blake took a few steps back to get close to Rom and Xera
“What the hell happened here?” Blake asked in a low tone turning to Rom and Xera.
Rom didn’t say anything for a moment and then turned a little towards the captain.
“These people have seen death and have lived with the fear of war. I know the look” he said leveling a gaze at Blake.
Xera nodded she too had seen war-torn refugees and worked among them.
“These are a people who have seen very, very rough times Captain,” she agreed as her eyes scanned the crowd, all seemed very uncomfortable at her feline gaze.
It took Blake a minute to catch on but then turned to the others,
“I am going to talk with her” he said nodding his head towards the woman with the pressed suite. “Hang out here, keep the hands off the guns unless they make a move.” Rom nodded and put his hands behind his back, as did Xera the captain nodded and then moved off towards the lady with the pressed suite.
“I didn’t catch your name,” he said as he approached again.
“My name is Catherine Smith,” she said extending her hand in a manner that meant Blake to kiss it. Blake faltered a step and then regaining his composure took her hand gently and kissed it
“It is a pleasure ma’am” he said smiling.
Catherine kept her eyes on his face,
“Captain I have to ask, and I apologize if this is an impertinent question, but what happened to your eyes?”
she said gazing into them.
It took Blake a second to figure out what she was talking about, and then it hit him, in fact, he had not felt the presence of Morgan in a while,
but as soon as he thought about her,
he felt her stir within him like she was waking from a dream.
“It’s a long story, we have been through a lot in a short time, but know that even with the eyes I am still human, still from earth and very,
very curious as to how a lost colony came to be on a planet named for an Indian island and a word scratched on a post”
he said making the statement more of a question. Catherine nodded seeming to make up her mind about something and smiled.
“The story has been passed down a few generations you understand, so I am not 100 percent sure of its accuracy, but here is what I know.
Our ancestors had set up a colony in Virginia and were doing as well as could be expected.
Then one day a bright light showed up in the sky, and these beings came down from it.
They gathered about 80 or so and killed another 10 to 20. Some escaped from what I understand,
but not most. After initial injections of something, they were able to communicate with the creatures and were told that they were being subjugated to help build a new Empire on a world far away.
I am not sure the translators worked well because someone asked if it was Croatoan,
meaning the island, they had learned of its name from Indians they had traded with.
And of course, before they could answer it was passed around as their destination,
I am not sure why, but the beings didn’t correct them, they just took them into the light.
I guess one of more who didn’t get taken might have carved your word and then left in case they came back. But the group ended up here,
and the aliens, who from what I understand looked like upright lizards”. Blake broke in
“Like Sleestacks?” he asked,
and she looked at him not understanding the term, and of course Blake could have slapped himself,
of course, these people had never seen
Land of the Lost,
“Never mind he said, please go on” he urged her. Catherine continued, her eyes glazing over as if remembering something from a long time ago. “After about two generations of working for the beings, our ancestors were tired and couldn’t take it, it took two years,
but they managed to gather weapons and supplies and learn how to use them, apparently whatever the aliens did had strengthened their bodies and minds and then been passed down from generation to generation getting that much stronger.
Nanites, Blake thought replicating in the parents and then passed to the children, as they adapted to the bodies, they were able to do more to strengthen the person,
He stopped in mid-thought, how the hell did he know that and of course it made sense,
Morgan had fed it to him. She would know about the nanites used and how they reacted within living organisms.
but we drove them off,”
She said looking up at the sky.
“In later years, they would come in greater force, but not more than two ships at a time,
we always manage to drive them off again,
but sometimes they got lucky and took a few of us.
We sleep lightly and always carry our guns,
we would have probably starved to death had the path not put a temple here and paid for its use with food. We are now 1200 souls” she finished.
Blake thought about that and realized that was a lot of kids, He wondered if the nanites had anything to do with that, I mean what good is a slave force if it can’t propagate fast and replace losses.
And then he was looking at Catherine,
he could see the beautiful but hard lines on her face, along with the grim determination set there.
“I take it they still come,” Blake said.
She nodded,
“They came a year ago and tried again, as always two ships, they managed to get 10 people before we repelled them. One of them was my husband and my son was also taken.” She met his eyes, and Blake could see the fresh tears welling in them,
but she managed to fight them down and maintain her composure.
“Captain, what are you doing here?” she asked pointedly and with more than a hint of suspicion.
Humans were pretty much the same no matter where they are raised, Blake thought.
He took a breath and ran her through the events leading up to the crew showing up in the system. She looked him over and focused on his face
“I know you’re telling the truth, but do you mean to tell me up until you showed up here,
you had no idea there were earthlings on this planet.”
Blake shook his head,
“It was a hell of a shock Cathy,” he said,
“but even with that, we need to get set up,
the Empire will be here soon.
We have to be ready, can you do anything to help us?” Blake asked with hope as he looked over the few troops. Sadly, Catherine shook her head,
“This is our whole mobile force, all we have” At those words, Blake’s hope deflated like a balloon, there was not enough here to hold much of anything from the legion of troops the Empire was sure to send.
In fact, they were humans, though probably augmented, nowhere near what his team had received. These people would just get in the way and be nothing but cannon fodder he thought,
not without a little guilt, a good tactical force to wear down the enemy.
Blake just couldn’t bring himself to ask that of these people who had been through so much
“Cathy, have your team secure the village,
any spillover from the battle that comes that way, have your men take care of,
we will handle the brunt of the assault.”
Catherine looked him over and then glanced at the two other members,
“Just the three of you, is that even possible?” Blake’s face said it all
“It has to be, the fate of Earth is at stake”
he answered. Cathy nodded solemnly
“I understand Captain, but those other two aren’t from earth, can you trust them?” Blake smiled,
“I trust them with my life and with yours”
He answered laying his hand on her shoulder,
“Go and protect the village, we will head on to the temple and prepare, no matter what, have your people stay in the village,” he said sternly to her. “This might not end well” Blake turned and beckoned Rom and Xera over,
and they all walked past Catherine as she watched them go.
Catherine had mixed feelings about the group,
but some of that was her own xenophobia from so many years of battling alien beings and being brought up to fear them.
For some reason, she trusted Blake,
but she could not put a finger on it.
Something in his eyes, he had seen battle, and the shock of humans had shown through,
maybe a little homesickness, but he wasn’t here to do them harm, that she knew,
she shook her head and turned to her troops to give them orders. Blake and group headed northeast out of the canyon, which according to the data readouts on his retinal overlay was the location of the temple.
His readings were scanning the canyon walls giving mineral makeups and distances,
all would be handy when matching them against what they had on file.
The plan would depend on accurate assessments of the area around the Temple.
When they had placed the Temple, someone must have been thinking ahead, the only entrance was a narrow canyon about 600 meters long and the nearest clear ground large enough to land troops was about a mile back the other way,
leading the entire troop formation through the canyon that Blake and the crew had just walked.
As he ensured that the optical receivers had gotten the proper dimensions,
he ensured he looked at everything multiple times. However, that was not necessary even the items in the peripheral vision were being recorded, tracked, scanned and measured.
He wanted to make sure he was thorough.
As they approached the Temple a lone figure in a robe stood out in front, in fact,
it was a lot like the lizard people that Catherine had described, lanky, covered in scales with large black eyes.
“Well, shit they do look like Sleestacks” Blake whispered to himself as they approached the lone robed figure.
“I take it you’re the welcoming committee”
Blake yelled across the 20 feet to the being.
The being looked down from staring at the sky and seemed to smile,
though it was hard to tell since it was basically a lizard’s head.
“I am Gruntou, I take it you have met the other inhabitants like yourself, interesting people they are, though very fearful of outsiders,
especially ones of my race,” Gruntou said with a slight hiss to his words.
“I take it you are of the same race that subjugated them?” The captain asked nodding back in the direction of the village.
Gruntou lowered his head and sighed
“I am captain, however upon joining the Path,
I asked to be assigned here as penance for my race, we are a small race who thrives on slavery, it is unfortunate but true.
I am hoping one day we will see the error of our ways and move to more noble pursuits,
since these people were put here by mine and forced to live in the conditions they are,
I offered my support and help to ensure their survival, this is my path”
he said again with that slight hiss that made Blake think of a snake. Blake nodded
“You know we aren’t with the church,
I mean the Path, right?”
Gruntou seemed to smile again.
“One does not join the Path Captain,
one just realizes that they are already on the path,” he said as if quoting from a book.
“Are you not on a path Captain?
Do you know where that path leads,
and do you have faith that you will reach it?”
the lizard cocked his head and waited.
Blake thought about it for a moment,
“Well, I am on a path, but not a religious one”
he said half sheepishly realizing he had just made Gruntou’s argument.
As did the lizard because he nodded and said, “Follow me, I have been expecting you”
Blake walked up next to Gruntou
“So, I have to ask, your people have been to earth, so why is it we are here,
I mean if aliens had been there then the Empire will surely know t
he coordinates, won’t they?”
Gruntou was silent and then fixed his big black eyes on Blake, and he was surprised to see they contained emotion,
he had often thought beings with eyes as black as coal couldn’t show emotion but instead seemed more like sharks.
But the contours of Gruntou’s face added to his sincerity, and there was intelligence and sorrow in those eyes.
“Captain, when a ship finds a source of Slaves it is a matter of profit and standing in our society,
so, the captain of the ship will guard the sources of his slaves with his life.
and only pass them down to the next captain, though my people have been there,
they skate underneath the Empire’s radar,
and that information probably has not left the ship that originally went there since they found
it so no the Empire would not know of earth or its location.”
Blake nodded seemingly satisfied with the answer and then laid his hand on Gruntou’s shoulder.
“How is it they only took one group of people from earth, I mean wouldn’t they want more?”
he asked searching the beings face for more of that emotion. Gruntou stopped and turned to face Blake “How is it you think they haven’t,
is this group the only people who have gone missing, or died or have never been recovered on your planet?” Gruntou asked sincerely.
Blake thought about it and shut up,
there had been a lot of missing people over the centuries, some of them might have ended up out here. Gruntou seemed satisfied with the silence as an answer and continued to walk on.
“Captain, the drive with the backup is kept on the lowest level, the Empire would not be able to access it without entering the temple,
we will have guards on station at every door along the way to the mainframe.
We have trained in combat tactics but have not been in combat, most of us are not from warlike races and lack the intuition that makes a warrior, we are scholars,
but we will do our best to hold them off.
Blake nodded and pulled out a small device he handed it to Gruntou who looked at it curiously. “This is the last resort, should someone access the drive this will allow one of my crew to delete it and destroy it. Please interface It to the mainframe” Gruntou nodded and headed for the door where he met another initiate of the way and handed him the device, after a short explanation the initiate ran down the hall, and Gruntou returned to the group. “It is being done now Captain,” he said.
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