Peace Army

by Steven L. Hawk

  “Yes,” the interpreter agreed. “It is remarkable on one hand, but… it seems to hold them back in other ways.”

  “What do you mean?” The engineer was always asking questions like that. It was how his mind operated. He was constantly solving problems – trying to understand how things or others worked.

  After Titan’s first foray into the Telgoran caves, life on the planet settled into a routine. They had been on the planet for five months and were learning more and more about the Telgorans. They met daily. Besides discussing what they learned, it was a way to cope with living on a planet where they were the only humans. Ceeray understood it was also an opportunity for Titan and Gee to check on her. She had not handled Derk’s death well, she knew.

  They sat in the dim light of Titan’s room. The soft glow cast by the cave was perfect. It provided just enough light for Gee and Titan to see Ceeray, while also being dim enough to allow her to see them. The absence of her secondary lids was seldom an issue in the ever-present twilight of the Telgoran tunnels. It was only when she neared the central cavern that the light became too bright for her to see clearly.

  At Titan’s request, the Telgorans had placed a bed and three chairs in the space. All were built from the gray metal substance that was the base of their artwork. Gee thought the metal might be agsel or a byproduct of agsel. Although the natives did not use chairs or beds themselves, they were experts at working the metal and had quickly crafted the furniture that the humans described. The pieces were covered with the soft, orange leather of the ninal beasts.

  Titan had learned that the Telgorans hunted the ninals, but only when they needed leather. The beasts were rarely hunted for their meat. The Telgorans considered the meat inferior to the tatal tubers they grew in special caves close to the surface. They only ate the meat when tatal harvests were low. Otherwise, they used it as fertilizer for their farms.

  Ceeray hated the tatal. She was glad when Titan had requested—and received—regular, ongoing deliveries of the ninal meat. They cooked it over hot metal coals delivered from the southern face of the planet. The Telgorans seemed pleased that they had another outlet for ridding themselves of the ninal by-product. It was a win-win.

  “The Telgorans make all decisions as a group. Nothing of importance is settled by an individual, or even a group of individuals,” she explained. “It has to be all or nothing. Unanimous or nothing.”

  “So that’s why they do that weird nodding thing? They’re making decisions?”

  “Exactly. It’s their decision making process.”

  “Amazing.” The engineer made his “thinking face” and lifted a thumbnail to his mouth. Titan shook his head and swatted the engineer’s hand. Gee dropped it to his side sheepishly.

  “Sorry. Forgot.” He was trying to break his nail-chewing habit. Titan had decided it was his job to help.

  Ceeray was amazed that violence had become such a common part of their lives so easily. She knew that living with the daily violence meted out by the Minith for so many years helped in that regard.

  So did killing an entire planet of living, sentient beings. Violent beings, but living, sentient beings nonetheless.

  And then there was Derk.

  Losing him hurt her greatly. So many things had changed.

  She shook off the negative thoughts of what had happened and refocused on their conversation.

  “Amazing, but also debilitating,” Ceeray stressed. “Can you imagine having to gain the approval of an entire race before making a decision? I mean, how do they get by doing that?”

  “Think about Telgora,” Gee said. The excitement in his voice was clear. “This planet is a very, very hostile place. Can you imagine how unlikely it is that anything could survive? Much less evolve, as the Telgorans have? Their mass mind helped them evolve.”

  Ceeray recognized and appreciated Gee’s insight. He was probably correct and she was thankful that he had such a keen mind.

  She also recognized that Titan was bored, as usual. It was just like him to check out during a conversation about theory and evolution. Unless the topic involved the here and now, or required them to make an important decision, he usually did not take time to engage in conversation.

  She waited for the inevitable interruption. It would not be long until he tried to steer the conversation back to something less strategic and more tactical, something that dealt with their immediate situation.

  Not for the first time, Ceeray found herself wishing that Titan could see the bigger picture. He appeared unable or unwilling to consider how their interactions with the Telgorans might affect them long term.

  * * *

  Titan did not care about Telgoran evolution. Or their decision-making process. Or how one affected the other. They had real problems that needed to be addressed.

  All he cared about now was how the natives could help them evade detection until the ship was repaired.

  Titan knew Ceeray would be content spending all her time talking with Patahbay, the Telgoran he had originally dubbed his “lead guard.” It was good to know the alien’s name, but he did not feel the need to spend all day in conversation with the Telgoran, as the interpreter obviously did.

  And Gee was too concerned with how the Telgorans evolved and lived. He needed to be more concerned with repairing the mothership so they could leave this ugly, dimly lit rock. The three months they had already spent here were three months too long.

  “So, what does Patahbay have to say about the Minith?” Titan interjected into the ongoing conversation between the engineer and the interpreter.

  His question was met with an angry glare from Ceeray, and Titan flinched at the lack of Peace the interpreter openly displayed. She did not like being interrupted. Titan knew this from prior instances but, for some reason, he could never help himself.

  Ceeray had been sending that “look” his way more and more often over the past few weeks. Each time, Titan was hammered by a sense of guilt. Although she had never said so, he suspected she blamed him for Derk’s death.

  “I apologize,” he offered quietly

  “No, that’s okay,” Gee offered. The chubby engineer seemed to understand the stressed dynamic that had developed between Titan and Ceeray, and he acted quickly to smooth over the riffs when he could.

  “It is a very good question,” the engineer said as he turned toward Ceeray. “I am anxious to hear what more Patahbay might have told you about the Minith.”

  “Well…” Ceeray took a breath; regained Peace. “He did tell me some very interesting things. Now is as good a time as any to discuss them, I suppose.”

  She smoothed the fabric of her gray coveralls. She appeared nervous, and Titan’s interest was piqued.

  “I learned two things today,” Ceeray began. “First, let me start with some history.”

  “History?” Titan asked.

  “Yes, history,” she snapped and gave him that look again. “Can you be bothered with a bit of history?”

  “Ceeray, I’m sure Titan meant no offense.” Gee looked at Titan for confirmation. The big man sighed, then nodded obediently.

  “Very well. No interruptions.” She looked at Titan and waited.

  He nodded again.

  Apparently satisfied, Ceeray proceeded to tell them the history Patahbay had relayed to her.

  The Minith miners and soldiers had been on Telgora for almost forty years.

  But for two hundred years before the Minith, there were the Waa.

  The Waa were a peaceful race that approached the Telgorans as equals, with offers of friendship and trade. In exchange for shipments of agsel ore, the Waa offered items the Telgorans needed: exotic foods, warm clothing, powerful tools—even luxury items like art and jewelry. While the Telgorans had no use for the ore the Waa desired, the items being offered in exchange would provide a measure of wealth and comfort the Telgorans had never considered possible.

  Much debate ensued and, through the Telgoran mass-mind ritual, the partnership was con
sidered and debated. In the end, every head on Telgora had nodded in acceptance.

  The agreement lasted for several generations. They were the most pleasant and comfortable years in Telgoran history. During that time, the Waa became respected friends as well as partners.

  Then the Minith arrived.

  The Minith killed the Waa, took over the mines and the ore, and ceased all trade.

  All were offenses requiring war—because the Telgorans had not nodded.

  * * *

  Titan had hated the Minith for more than a dozen years. On his eighteenth birthday, when the alien raiding party had killed his brother, he had made a promise to himself. That promise was to kill all the Minith on Earth—to push them off his planet and keep them off.

  He had never thought it possible, but with Grant Justice’s help, he had succeeded. He had even played a role in destroying the Minith’s home planet and, for a while, his hate had abated.

  But after hearing Ceeray’s story, the hate bubbled forth with a renewed intensity.

  He no longer wanted to return to Earth. His work there was done.

  His work here was just beginning.

  “Ceeray,” Gee prompted. “You said there were two things you learned today.”

  “Yes,” she said. “The Telgorans are leaving the village tomorrow for an attack on the Minith mines. Apparently, they attack the aliens twice each year.”

  Titan’s laughter filled the small room.

  * * *

  Titan observed from the rear of the formation—if you could call it that.

  Roughly a hundred Telgoran males and females were bunched tightly inside the mouth of the cave. Titan could not see past the tight group of tall, thin bodies, but he had been told that one of the Minith mining operations sat a short distance beyond the entrance.

  He had been allowed to follow the group from the village and had been trekking along behind them for several days. He was amazed at the complex, uninterrupted system of tunnels. From the time they left the village, they had never breached the surface until now, and Titan wondered if the tunnels ran beneath the entire planet.

  Titan was anxious to observe the Telgorans in action. Despite how weak they looked, he knew the planet’s natives were anything but frail. The muscles thin hidden beneath their skin were as strong as steel, and quick to react.

  Titan absently rubbed his chest where the strike from a Telgoran fist had first landed.

  Some fighters carried bags full of large, round stones. Others toted long staffs fashioned from agsel. As he had several times during the journey, Titan wondered if the primitive weapons would be sufficient against Minith laser weapons. He had seen firsthand how well those worked.

  Other villages around the planet were sending groups of fighters similar to those Titan trailed. According to Patahbay, the plan called for the Telgorans to group at a series of caves—each of which surfaced near one of the six Minith mining colonies located around the equator. Once all groups were in place, the mass mind would signal the attack.

  Titan was wondering when the signal would be given when the scores of Telgorans in front of him—

  —suddenly weren’t in front of him.

  They exited the cave so quickly that Titan found himself standing alone, frozen in place.

  How can they move so fast?

  Titan shook off the surprise and rushed to the mouth of the cave. He had been ordered to remain inside as a condition of joining the group. He considered following them despite the condition, but the speed with which they moved, along with his lack of weapons, made him rethink the idea.

  He elected to observe instead.

  The Telgorans were sprinting wildly across a brightly lit expanse of sand. The sun-splashed view alerted Titan that they were close to the southern side of the equator. From the left, he noticed movement and looked over as a second group of Telgorans rushed forth. Some distance to the right, a third group joined the rush.

  In the distance, roughly a kilometer ahead, Titan spied their objective—a squat, rectangular structure that rose no more than twenty meters from the lake of sand that surrounded it. The Minith mining facility reminded him of Violent’s Prison. Although the mine was nowhere near the size of the prison, its thick, sand-colored walls looked just as formidable.

  Atop the walls, he spied activity and guessed the defenders had observed the approaching Telgorans. Titan barely had time to wonder what the Minith response might be.

  Flashes of light darted outward from the tops of the facility as the Minith fired on the approaching fighters. The flashes ended in explosive impacts that sent Telgorans tumbling to the ground.

  In return, the Telgorans lobbed the rocks they carried. Titan was amazed at the distances they could throw their stones. Many traveled almost a kilometer through the air. But he was dismayed at the results the throws produced.

  As damaging as the Minith fire was on the Telgoran forces, the rocks the Telgorans threw had no noticeable effect on the Minith.

  Titan slumped to the floor of the cave and watched as the Telgorans were systematically killed by the bursts of fire pouring from the walls.

  He was reminded of a similar slaughter that had happened back on Earth. In that fight, the Minith were gunned down while he and his fellow inmates fired upon them from the rooftops of Violent’s Prison.

  The phrase Grant had taught him then was equally applicable now.

  “Like shooting fish in a barrel,” he muttered.

  It took less than two minutes for the last Telgoran to fall. The final runner almost reached the wall of the mining structure when a dozen weapons were turned in his direction.

  Titan stared in mute horror at the bodies scattered across the sandy plain. He spied glimpses of white among the bodies and suddenly realized that the Telgorans had been sprinting across a sea of bones on the way to their death.

  Titan gasped.

  The Telgorans attacked the Minith every six months. They knew the attack would not be successful. They had to know.

  Yet they tried it over and over.

  Chapter 26

  It took Gee almost three years to repair the damage to the internal guidance systems on the mothership.

  While Titan and Ceeray lived with the Telgorans in their subterranean burrows, the engineer toiled alone inside the Minith vessel. He occasionally visited, but those trips were rare. After a dozen years with the alien slavers, the Peace and solitude were a comfort, and he went about his work with a slow but methodical precision.

  The damage caused by the Minith fighters required him to salvage parts from subsystems that were less critical to the vessel’s eventual space-worthiness. Parts from the Minith’s entertainment systems were especially helpful in making needed repairs. On two occasions, he had to fabricate parts, and those instances ate up the most time. Fortunately, the ship had adequate tools, equipment, and raw parts to accommodate the required fabrications.

  Gee had rigged a video feed into the engineering room where he did his work. He was performing final tests on the nearly repaired guidance systems when the vid screen lit up with a view of the outer bay doors opening. He put his tools down and watched as a carrier entered.

  The bay doors closed, sealing out the swirling snow and darkness beyond.

  Titan exited the vehicle and Gee headed out for the control center. The former Violent was there when he arrived.

  “Good day, Titan,” he greeted. “How goes the war?”

  Unless something radical had taken place, it was unlikely that the effort was going any better than it had been for the past three years.

  Titan had been trying to help the Telgorans against the Minith, but he had little influence over their mass mind. Once a decision was made, they stuck to it, regardless of its outcome. It was a trait that had allowed them to evolve on the harsh planet, but it also held them back.

  The inability to be flexible and adapt meant they were doomed to repeating the same mistakes over and over. It also meant they were incapable of
subterfuge or misinformation. They did not try to employ stealth or feints in their attacks.

  Theirs was a straight-ahead, blinders-on approach.

  The big man had argued relentlessly for a halt to the unnecessary deaths. But it was no use. The Telgorans refused to concede the fight or revise their tactics, even though they would never win.

  “The same, Gee,” Titan confirmed. “The Telgorans refuse to change their approach, and as a result, the Minith have no problem defending against them.”

  Gee often wondered how the Telgorans could be so committed to defeating the Minith when it was apparent they would never win. Was Peaceful coexistence with the Minith so bad? The Minith mined for ore the Telgorans did not want, and the aliens did not treat them as poorly as they treated the humans on Earth.

  Gee wondered if the Telgoran resistance actually affected how the Minith treated them. If the Telgorans had readily submitted, as humanity had done, would they have been treated similarly to humans?

  It was a question that bore further scrutiny.

  “They attempt the same head-on attack twice a year,” he said, obviously irritated. “And they have been doing it for nearly forty years. Frankly, I don’t see how they have survived this long.”

  Gee nodded in understanding.

  “It’s a good thing that they can reproduce at will.”

  “There is that.” Titan pulled up some info on one of the consoles in front of him and studied it absently. “So, how are the repairs coming along?”

  “Ah, so that’s why you have chosen to grace me with your presence.” Gee smiled. “I thought you wanted to help the Telgorans defeat the Minith. Have you changed your mind?”

  “No.” Titan shook his head and looked at Gee with an intensity Gee had not seen in a long time. “I haven’t changed my mind. But unlike the Telgorans, I am fully capable of changing my tactics.”

  “Really? I am intrigued.”

  “You can be intrigued all you like. The real issue is, when will the ship be ready to take off?”