Galactic Assimilation 2:: Empire Rising

by J. K. Mabrey

  Rudy sat at the table and pulled out a datapad uploaded with the data from Zaynu. "The Savin traders took delivery of a shipment of power cells on the moon of Jeyago. The moon of Jeyago is more hospitable to humanoid life than the planet as the atmosphere of Jeyago is too thin to diffuse enough solar radiation to support sustained exposure, without proper clothing. The moon, however, has an atmospheric composition and thickness almost ninety-seven percent similar to Earth."

  "Great," Charra said.

  "What?" Zavik asked.

  "Earth's atmosphere has too much water vapor in it for my taste."

  "Our atmosphere is clean," Dani said, "relatively speaking."

  "Yes, well, to each his own. Continue robot."

  Rudy looked at Charra, his face expressionless as it always was. It could never change, and Zavik could never tell quite what he was thinking, though he was thinking of it as a 'he'. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

  "The atmosphere of Tunertha is borderline a health hazard to all races in the galaxy, save the Rovun," Rudy said. "The Council has voted seven times on whether to force the Rovun into cleaning their atmosphere, all seven passing with the vote of four-to-one, the one always being the Rovun Councilor. The Rovun, in their stubbornness, have refused to comply."

  "Stubbornness?" Charra cried. "Where did you get that idea?" His fist slammed hard on the table. Dani's half empty glass teetered on its side before coming to rest upright again.

  "That is in my programming," Rudy said.

  "You programmed your robots to think of Rovun as stubborn?"

  "I didn't program anything," Zavik said. "I can see where he would get that idea, though."

  "You what!"

  "Calm down," Dani said. "Rudy's just trying to rile you up. Aren't you?"

  "Most Rovun's are prone to anger at the slightest insult," Rudy said. "That test was effective in demonstrating such provocation."

  "Test?" Zavik asked.

  "Part of my programming is to interact with other species and learn to adapt to their lifestyles and needs. It is supposed to make me a better aid."

  "You'd make a better aid if you were a gun rack," Charra said.

  "That was one of over ten thousand tests programmed to improve my interaction with other species. There are five thousand tests available to improve interaction with humans."

  "Why do you need tests?" Dani asked. "Isn't it already programmed into your memory?"

  "The tests help customize my interaction with the human I am assigned to. Human's can be very diverse creatures, and it is important to understand the ones I am with better. Other races are just as complex, and humans know very little about their psychology. Most Rovun's are prone to anger at an insult. However, limited studies show that approximately twelve percent of the Rovun population does not have this tendency. I believe I have demonstrated, effectively, that Charra does. That is helpful. In the future should you wish to avoid upsetting him, it would be suggested to not insult him. On the other hand--" Rudy lifted his left hand and examined it, "--strange idiom, if one wished to provoke him, insulting would be a good method."

  "Well thank you, Rudy," Zavik said. "It's good to know what makes our friend here tick." Zavik smiled at Charra who did not return a happy look.

  "And here I thought I already knew that," Dani said.

  "All right," Charra said, "can you tell your robot to stop psychoanalyzing me already. It's giving me a headache."

  "Perhaps if you stopped calling him a robot," Dani said. "He has a name."

  "Fine. Rudy, don't do any more tests on me."

  Rudy looked at Zavik. "Sir?"

  "Keep the tests to a minimal, Rudy," Zavik said. "I'd hate for Charra to rip your arms off."

  "Can we get back to Jeyago now?" Dani asked.

  "Certainly," Rudy said. "The moon of Jeyago is where the Ascachi delivered the supply of power cores. The information is not very detailed, but the supplies were delivered to a warehouse just outside of Bun Elva."

  "Never heard of it," Charra said.

  "Me either," Zavik added.

  "The delivery was made four days ago and the possibility that the warehouse still has the power cores is sixty-eight percent. As more time passes, that number will decrease."

  "Then we should get a move on," Zavik said. "Dani, get us off Urloth and make our way to Jeyago."

  "I'm on it." She sprung from the table and went to the cockpit.

  "Charra, make sure all of those weapons you were going to take out there are loaded, just in case."

  "Yes, sir," Charra said, his face growing into a sly grin.

  The Rinada lifted off. Zavik felt the sudden surge in his stomach from the takeoff, but it evened out quickly. "Rudy, we need to find a way into that warehouse without being detected."

  "I have analyzed the photos given to us and have found a possible entrance."

  "Good, let's get a plan together before we get there."

  Chapter 13

  The Rinada sat in orbit above Jeyago when Zavik entered the cockpit. Before him stood a red tinted planet that was bare, save for a large green strip running along the equator. Swirling lines of desert sand swept up from the center of the planet and stretched out its fingers towards the poles. Out of the sand, green forests sprouted and filled the void between the north and south deserts. A large ocean stood to the left of the landmass. Grey clouds drifted above the sea. Further inland a storm roared. Lightning flashed above and below the clouds in rapid succession.

  Zavik took a seat next to Dani. She pointed out the window to a moon just cresting over the planet. The moon was almost as large as the planet, but Zavik could already tell it was covered in more diverse life. The moon was a deep hue of blue, at least the parts that could be seen through a thin layer of clouds that attempted to cover the whole surface. A small section of land, brown at the top but giving way to green pastures further south, was attempting to poke through the clouds. Another land mass stretched from the middle of the moon, up and over to the left before wrapping around the back of the moon.

  "Kinda reminds you of Earth, no?" Dani asked.

  "It does," he replied, only thinking about how right she was after she said it. He watched as the lower half of the moon was bathed in darkness by the shadow of Jeyago. The moon revolved around Jeyago once every three weeks and rotated on its axis once every twenty-seven hours. It made for very hectic times. Habitats would be under near total darkness for weeks at a time as the moon passed behind the shadow, and the planet would cool considerably, reaching temperatures as low as negative twenty with regularity. When in front of the planet, the moon could heat up to over one hundred and twenty degrees during the day. The two extremes kept the moon in balance, but as much as Zavik liked the seasons on Earth, he thought this would be too much to bear. One week you'd have your winter coat on, and then two weeks later you're in your shorts. How do you enjoy that?

  "Are we ready to land?" Dani asked.

  "Yes," he said. "Put us down in Bun Elva."

  "Rudy's information puts that about ten miles away from the warehouse," Dani said. "You're not thinking about walking are you?"

  "No," Zavik said and waved his hands at her. "Rudy and I have a plan that can be launched from Bun Elva."

  "Am I going to like this plans?" she asked.

  "Oh, I think so," he said with a faint smile creeping over his face.

  "Really, why's that?"

  "You get to hack some things."

  Dani was an expert hacker, it was one of her best skills. It had proven almost as useful as her piloting skills since she joined him. She hadn't gotten to hack into anything important in a while. None of their jobs required them to bypass security or steal encrypted information. He knew she would enjoy having a challenge like this for once.

  Dani put the Rinada down in Bun Elva. They acquired a landing permit by faking the contents of their cargo hold. The permit said they were there to sell fruit not indigenous to Jeyago or its moon. It was a typical piece of
cargo for small time shippers to have. The deliveries were easy and paid pretty good, to be honest. Delivering fruit for a living wasn't their passion, though, and it didn't pay good enough to make up for it. The permit wouldn't be a red flag to any authorities and there was almost no chance that they would audit his ship. Most merchants were free to land wherever they liked and distribute their goods as they saw fit. Or in their case, not distribute anything at all.

  Bun Elva was a small city with a very concentrated population in the center. The middle sprung up to seven buildings, each clamoring to surpass the others for the highest reach. Steel and glass wrapped around each building in ornamental ways. Zavik imagined it would sparkle in the sunlight. Unfortunately, they were now behind the cover of Jeyago and a reddish dark blanket covered the city and the land stretching out from it for miles. Green trees and grass stood out and were sprinkled throughout the city as the towering buildings dwindled into small, single unit structures. Roads crisscrossed each other every few hundred feet and four bridges spanned a river carved through the east side of the city. The local traffic was tight and congested. A few ships were landing at about the same time and just as few were seen taking off.

  Dani had put the Rinada down near the edge of town closest to their target. It was a large spaceport capable of housing a dozen ships. The round structure was just large enough to hold the Rinada without scraping the sides. When Dani first started piloting the Rinada Zavik would always watch and monitor her movements, cringing every time she got close to a wall or barrier. However, he couldn't remember her ever actually scraping into something while landing or taking off, something he admitted to doing many times. It didn't take him long to trust that she could fly the ship well. It took him a little longer to admit that she could fly it better than him.

  He brought her out to the sitting area. Brax was up and looked eager to get going. After a Chokmnd sleeps their energy levels skyrocket. They can become somewhat annoying, Zavik thought. Charra had laid out his weapons on the table. A rifle was laid across his lap as he cycled through his meticulous inspection process to ensure that each weapon was ready to go. Rudy sat across from Brax and was surveying the weapon cache.

  "A Wizington R40," Rudy said towards a pistol laid in front of him. "Energy capacity of thirty shots, give or take two. Blaster velocity of approximately five hundred feet per second."

  "He keeps doing that," Brax said as they walked in. "Are we ready? He won't tell us the plan without you."

  "Ok, ok," Zavik said as he pulled up a chair to sit at the edge of the table. Dani sat next to Rudy. "How are your guns?"

  "They all check out," Charra said. "Rudy found a bit of sulfur buildup in the barrel of the Nordck." The black rifle had a pistol grip, laser sight, flashlight and an under-barrel grenade launcher attached to it. It was a bit heavy for Zavik's taste, but Charra didn't seem to mind.

  "See, he's helpful," Dani said nudging Zavik.

  Rudy straightened up and said, "It is in my programming."

  "Yeah, he's not so bad," Zavik said. He opened a screen on the table and a three-dimensional holographic picture of the warehouse popped up. The long and rectangular building rotated slowly on the table. The roof met at a triangular peak. One of the small sides of the building had a large bay door, the long side to its right had three smaller bay doors running down it.

  "What are we looking at?" Brax asked.

  "This is the warehouse the power cores were delivered to. Zaynu's information says they dropped the goods off at the front of the building near the large doors. He says they took the power cores in through those doors."

  "So those doors are where their supplies are dropped off?" Dani asked.

  "Looks like it," Zavik said.

  "What's with the three other doors?" Charra asked.

  "It's where the slaves are loaded onto ships," Brax said.

  "How do you know that?" Charra asked.

  Brax didn't answer right away as Zavik was accustomed to him doing. All he said finally was, "I just do."

  Zavik wanted to ask, but Brax's face told him not to, assuming he was reading the Chokmnd's face properly. That wasn’t such an easy feat. "The opposite side of the building has a row of vents going up. Rudy thinks the power control room is next to these, and that's where the power cores will be stored."

  "Building's not tied to the grid, huh?" Charra asked.

  "No," Zavik said. "It probably helps them operate under the radar."

  "How do we get in to get the power cores?" Charra asked.

  "The Ascachi detected a network surrounding the building. We think it can be used to open and close the doors. Dani will hack into the network, open the smaller doors, and we'll slip in."

  "How do we get out?" Charra asked.

  "Dani will open the main hangar door, that will hopefully draw anyone inside to the front. She'll then cut the power, allowing us to slip out the back door and pick us up. Hopefully all undetected."

  "Hopefully," Charra laughed, polishing one of his pistols. "How do we get there?"

  "We wait until it gets dark," Zavik said.

  "Dark? It is dark," Brax said.

  "We're just in the planet's shadow. In a few hours, it'll be nighttime. The moon will get very dark then, especially outside the city. We'll fly by in the Rinada, her stealth capabilities should keep us off whatever sensors they have. I'm sure they're not military grade, and even some of those can't detect her. We'll get out as close to the warehouse as possible and wait for Dani to open the rear door. Then, just stick to the plan."

  "So we just wait?" Charra asked.

  "Yeah, I thought we were ready to go," Brax added. "I've got to do something."

  "You can go into town if you'd like," Dani said. "We could use some additional supplies."

  "Like what?" Zavik asked and her face told him exactly what it was she needed. Brax and Charra didn't pick it up, though.

  "Yeah, what could we need?" Charra asked.

  "We need a new carbon filter for the ventilation system and some fresh food would be nice," she said. "We may not be delivering fruit to the planet but someone else sure is. You two can take Rudy and get the supplies."

  "Now we're errand boys," Charra said.

  "Try and be back not too long after dark," Zavik said. "We don't want to wait too long to hit them."

  "Sure thing, boss," Brax said. "Come on, Rudy."

  Rudy followed Brax to the loading ramp. Charra grabbed a pistol from off the table. He thought about taking one of his rifles but decided against it. Instead, he put them back in his room.

  "You can share more of those tests you have for Rovun," Brax said.

  "Yes," Rudy said, "I believe Charra will prove to be an excellent test subject for my records."

  "I'm no test subject..." Charra's voice trailed off as they walked down the ramp and it shut behind them.

  "That was easy," Zavik said.

  "Brax just needed any excuse to do something," Dani said, "and Charra never needs an excuse to do anything."

  Zavik stared at Dani for a moment as they sat in silence. She was beautiful, as always. Her black hair hung just below her shoulders. A slight sheen of oil coated her hair. It had been a few days since she’d washed it and it was always quick to betray that. He laid his hand on the table with his palm up and gave it a little twitch. She placed both of hers on top. They were slightly damp and cold. He knew his felt the same to her. A thin veil of eagerness covered her face that had recently been reserved to a constant state of sadness. He couldn't quite determine what was making her sad, and a ping of anger rolled over his face. Why couldn't she just tell him what was bothering her? She always had to keep things buried inside, only discussing it when there was nothing else to fixate her attention on. Whether that be the job, the ship, or some mundane task she took up for a few days to distract her. He could always tell there was something, but he wasn't very good at coaxing it out of her.

  He didn't want to ask about it, he wanted to give into his desires and
take her into their room and lock the door. He squeezed her hands and wanted to get up. Instead, he forced himself to ask, "What's bothering you?"

  She feigned a smile and squeezed his hand back. "It's nothing."

  ‘It's’. When it's nothing, you never say ‘it’. It's always just, nothing. He wasn't in the mood for these little games, and his mood for other things was beginning to wane, but not too much.

  "Is it the mission?" he asked. "Do you not like it?"

  "No, I think it's a good plan," she said. Her eyes were straight and unwavering. She really did like the plan, he thought. "I think you'll be able to get into the building and out without alerting them. I'm sure it's safer than some of the other things we've done."

  "I doubt the power cores are as guarded as the slaves will be," Zavik said.

  "You think they have slaves in there now?"

  "I don't know," he said, not wanting to think about it. He wanted to think about kissing her, and think about their bodies being joined together. "I imagine they might."

  "Disgusting," she said.

  "Is that what's bothering you? Dealing with slavers?"

  "No," she said softly. "I mean, I don't like dealing with them, or anything like that, don't get me wrong, but that's not it."

  "Then what?" he asked and she recoiled a bit at his voice, drawing a hand away from his. "You can tell me." His voice dropped back down, realizing he raised it at her.

  A cold look came over her face, replacing the eagerness that she once had. Her eyes were sharp and her lips drawn tight. A tear built up at the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek when she blinked. He went to brush it away but she recoiled and took care of it herself. He slid out of the booth and sat next to her. He wrapped his arm around her and laid her head down on his shoulder.

  "It's ok, it's ok," he said patting her head. A tear fell on his shoulder as she began to sniffle. He lifted her head up and said, "Come on, talk to me, please."

  She wiped away both eyes and said, "What if Zaynu was right about those ships?"

  It was a question he had thought about almost constantly since leaving Urloth. He never dreamed that she was thinking about it too. He thought there had to be a connection between the ships that attacked them, the power core factory, and the other attacks.