by Mark Iles
To Selena’s surprise people stopped to watch them pass, mostly with smiles, whispers and even pointed fingers. One or two turned and fled immediately, and Selena knew it would be a long time before prejudice and fear left all of her people. Too many had lost relatives to the lenars. It was only when a young girl reached out and stroked Shadow that Selena realised things were already changing. Fear of the Forerunners and FOM meant that for the first time people were starting to accept the lenars, and from the warm glow emanating from her companion she knew he felt it too.
Reaching their destination Selena keyed the buzzer on the door and a small screen to one side flicked into life. Cox looked at her in surprise.
“Captain Dillon? Come on in.”
The door unlocked with a click and she pushed it open. They entered a long and narrow vanilla scented red-walled hall, in which a wide variety of paintings hung. The hall emptied into a luxurious deep-green carpeted apartment, where Cox waddled toward them wiping his brow with a cloth. He was genuinely pleased to see them, she knew this instantly from Shadow. Cox offered her his hand and then stroked her companion.
“While I’m delighted to see you again, Captain, I doubt this is a courtesy call. So, what can I do for you?”
“I need to ask you a favour,” she replied. “I just learnt from Shadow that the lenars suffer from some kind of disease, which has been keeping their number down. They know and trust you, so I’d like you to help them. You’re well qualified to deal with this, and to be honest I can’t think of a better person for the job. You’ll have complete freedom in running the show. So, are you interested?”
“Oh, most definitely,” he said with a grin, gesturing to several expensive looking sofas. “Please, take a seat. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Jasmine tea would be nice, if you have it.”
Only gone for a few moments Cox soon returned with a steaming mug of the aromatic beverage, which he offered to Selena, and a bowl of water for Shadow. She took a sip. It still surprised her how much she’d missed the locally-grown, fragrant brew.
“You’re empathic too, aren’t you?” she asked, watching as he nodded in agreement. “I thought you might be, it makes a lot of sense. I find it strange we didn’t pick up on the lenars’ ability when our people first arrived on Capulet.”
“That’ll be the fear,” the scientist replied. “Humans put up barriers when confronted by something terrifying, and of course the lenars attacked because they were protecting their world. Now things have changed and we’ve discovered common ground, survival. I hope you don’t mind me calling you Selena, but tell me what you know about this disease.”
“Not much I’m afraid,” she replied, “only what I’ve picked up from Shadow. It’s hard to describe how he gives me the information. It’s like a feeling, an experience of what’s happening, as if you’ve been there yourself and seen it happening. What I do know is the lenars get sick without warning, and have to be isolated by their community before they can pass it on to others. If they don’t act quickly then more catch it and all those who do eventually die. They’ve lost entire communities. The lenars have no concept of medicine and so didn’t understand what was happening to them. I’m sorry to ask this of you, Cox, but as a qualified xeno-biologist I need you on this, and you appear to have an affinity with them.”
“You’re sorry?” he gasped, looking surprised. “Are you kidding me? This is what I’ve trained my whole life for. It would be any scientist’s dream to be able to work on a project like this. So don’t you apologise or worry about it, just give me the resources to do the work.”
“Let me know what you want. If I can get it for you I will.”
*****
As the days passed and Shadow grew to waist height, the situation on Capulet improved with remarkable speed. The new establishments were up and running in what must have been record time. When their weapons trials passed without issue, Selena ordered the construction of more accommodation blocks and stores, then improved sanitation and power plus the many other things a city needed. Before long their walls began to edge further out, as they grew in size. She soon allowed the workers families to join them and most quickly found employment in the young cities. Selena added more weapon platforms and multiple other projects as the influx of workers swelled even further. But, while delighted with the progress, Selena began to get a nagging feeling she was missing something.
Suddenly it struck her. What would she do if the caretakers struck at Capulet? There’d be no way to contain them once they arrived, but they had to get here first. As she considered the problem Selena decided to have every incoming ship quarantined in high orbit, and checked out prior to landing, just to be on the safe side. But that niggling feeling remained to haunt her. It was desperately important and she knew it.
Frustrated, Selena stood and walked over to the light-grey, top-of-the-range coffee machine in her office. Magki had loved his little luxuries. She typed in an order for a large mocha, while continuing to ponder. Her staff had thoughtfully left a small bag of marshmallows besides the coffee machine and she tore it open and dropped several of the pink and white fingertip-sized sweets into her mug. She froze, something... Mesmerised Selena dropped even more in and stared aghast as it hit her.
“That’s it!” she gasped, stepping backwards away from the machine, shocked she’d missed something so simple. Within moments she had Admiral Anderson on the screen.
“Sir, I need you to launch fighters immediately. We need to have Combat Space Patrols up all the time. We also need the space based defence platforms fitted with multiple long-range small arms.”
“You want to tell me what’s up, Dillon, or should I just follow the orders of a junior officer?”
She swallowed. “I’m sorry, Sir, my sincerest apologies. It’s just occurred to me the weapons we have available in orbit are all anti-ship. We have nothing really to take out much smaller objects, and we need to be prepared for all eventualities.”
Anderson visibly bit back his frustration. “For heaven’s sake woman, spit it out.”
“The caretakers Sir, we’re open to infiltration by them from space. Sure our land bases have point defence, but if the caretakers get into the system somehow and come down in the forests then we’ve had it. We need a way to intercept them, hence the long-range small arms on the defence platforms.”
The admiral stared at her. “My God, Dillon, you’re right.” He turned away from the screen and yelled commands she couldn’t make out. Then he was back facing her once again. “It’s done, Dillon. Fighter wings are launching even now. I’ll order the battle-stations to be upgraded immediately. Let’s hope it’s not needed but it’s better to be safe than sorry. That was a good call, Captain.”
It was less than three weeks later twelve ForeRunner cruisers appeared in system and shot past Capulet, firing multiple salvos of projectiles towards the planet. Luckily the admiral had a trick up his sleeve, having witnessed these fly-pasts before he’d anticipated such a move and sewn anti-ship mines in the system. He immediately ordered them activated and watched as they locked onto the vessels as they drew close. Within moments five of the cruisers were brief balls of flame in the darkness. Then the battle-stations opened up and their combined heavy weapons destroyed another ship and damaged others. Having fired their weapons the battered survivors slipped back into hyperspace. Fearing the projectiles were planet busters they were quickly taken out, but not until they’d mirved into clouds of much smaller objects.
“Caretakers inbound!” Lieutenant Robert yelled from the control room over the battlenet, a young lenar at her side.
“How many?” Selena asked, calmly.
“All of them, I think. I’m showing thousands,” Roberts replied. “They’ve got something on their backs, probably some kind of anti-gravity device to allow them to land safely.”
Selena swore under her breath, but luckily all the space defence platforms had been upgraded and the fighter wings on patrol engaged the
machines immediately. Many of the fighters blinked out of existence but then the planet based defences kicked in too. When Anderson called her an hour later it was to inform Selena that not one of the caretakers survived to make it down to the planet.
*****
“Captain Dillon,” Lieutenant Roberts said over the screen. “Can you come into the command room please?”
“What is it?” she asked, wishing for just one day where one thing after another didn’t demand her attention.
“Just something I think you should see.”
Selena pushed back her chair and forced herself to her feet. She was exhausted and knew it, and above all was not in the mood to be played with. She secured the couple of buttons undone on her collar and, leaving her office, strode crisply down the corridor and into the control room, where she stopped dead in her tracks.
Admiral’s Van Pluy and Anderson were both there waiting for her, as was the Queen. The room was filled to the brim with troops, who raised a cheer as she entered. Singh and Braxis’s eyes twinkled and Roberts was grinning insanely. To Selena’s utter astonishment she saw Kes was there too, with Roberts watching him closely.
“What…” Selena managed to gasp.
“Well that’s a first,” the Queen observed, as the noise died down. “I’ve never known you to be stuck for words before, Captain.”
Van Pluy gave the Queen a warning look and gestured for Selena to come closer. Then he said loudly, “Captain Dillon, on behalf of the Regiments and the Assembly of Worlds, I’ve come here to congratulate you on the superb job you’ve done here on Capulet. No one could have done any better. You’ve proven my point that this world was left in very safe hands. The Queen and I have discussed your efforts in great depth and would now like to reward you for all your hard work.”
Selena didn’t know what to say.
“He’s not joking, Captain,” the Queen said, appraising her coolly. “Admiral?”
“You’ve already received our highest award but today we’re delighted to add a bar to your Sunburst, which makes you the only person ever to have received it. Congratulations.” Van Pluy stepped forward and gave her a small blue box that was open and displaying the bar to her medal, then he shook her hand.
For a moment there was silence in the room, and then the cheers erupted once again. She realised then how much of a father figure Van Pluy had become. Damn it! She swallowed her feelings knowing any sign of emotion would ruin her reputation, and she knew the Queen was watching. She saluted the Admiral and tried to still her bubbling emotions.
There was a little party afterwards, nothing too extravagant but it was a chance for them all to let their hair down. Selena enjoyed a single flute of champagne from local vineyards, and then went back to her office, followed by the two admirals. She made them both a hot drink and then sat down at her desk, stirring a spoonful of harlequin sugar from General Magki’s personal supply into her coffee. Then she said, “Okay, forgive me for being pessimistic but I take it you’ve come here for a reason other than the award. While I’m sure you know how much I really appreciate the gesture, it could easily have been done by screen. So, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s up?”
Van Pluy turned to Admiral Anderson. “See, I told you.”
Anderson smiled and then said to Selena, “It was an ideal opportunity to come and discuss a rather urgent matter. My comrade here informed me you’d suspect there was more to our visit, and he was right. The long and the short of it, Captain, is that both the Sken and the Manta are demanding the right of entry to the rabbit holes at Loreen, which means access to the ForeRunner worlds. The question is what do we do about it? You have an ability to think outside the box and we’d appreciate your thoughts.”
“Let’s face it,” Selena replied, “the Sken already have access to them from Arcadia, so the answer’s obvious. As I see it we should agree to their request. The ForeRunners have kept this technology hidden from the Federation, and our new allies will be watching to see what we do. We can’t show ourselves to have the same morals as our enemies. If we deny them the right of access we’ll show ourselves as untrustworthy and they could decide to take it for themselves. While we can defend ourselves against the Manta we stand little chance against the Sken.
“My suggestion, Admirals, is to grant them access but again ask they help us to defend Loreen and the rabbit holes in general. I appreciate this is a bit awkward, given our recent war with the Manta and the losses we all suffered, but to be honest I don’t feel we have much of a choice.”
Selena stood in front of the window, hands locked behind her back, overlooking the city and the forest beyond it as the two senior officers behind her spent a few moments savouring their coffee.
“Those are my thoughts exactly,” Van Pluy replied. “Admiral?”
Anderson was silent for a moment but then agreed. “You’re both right, it has to be done. If we don’t then we risk a war on another front against two very advanced races
and, to be blunt, it’s a war we couldn’t win. While we’ve given the Manta a battering they’re still a potent foe. By agreeing to these requests at least we keep them on our side. All we can do is hope that we’re doing the right thing.”
“I was going to suggest we put certain safeguards in place,” Selena advised. “Such as planting even more thermal bombs in the tunnels and looking to see how we can improve our defences on both sides, on the pretext that should the ForeRunners try again we can destroy the rabbit holes if need be. I’ve a feeling our new allies won’t fall for it but I’m sure they’ll understand our concerns and will agree anyway. My Aunt May used to say the only thing to do is suck it and see. I’d also like to see alternate lines of communications open, in case they can jam the ones we have. Maybe we can install land lines and use the bees to carry messages.”
“Makes sense,” Van Pluy replied. “I’ll see to it.”
Anderson sipped his coffee. “Putting another few ships into orbit wouldn’t stop the Sken, and to be frank we’d be hard pushed to spare those vessels. Every member of the Assembly of Worlds are demanding protection, and while we have them building their own space defence systems and ships we’d be hard pushed to justify taking ships away from them to defend ourselves against our own allies.
“What I’ve done is create several immediate reaction groups, each protecting a given sector. As soon as something kicks off they’ll head straight to the hot spots. If I need to bolster anything it’s these, not tie up ships where they won’t do any good anyway.”
“Okay, then we’re agreed,” Van Pluy said, “which leaves one final thing.”
Here it comes, Selena thought.
“Captain, your search teams have done brilliantly. I’d like some sent to Loreen. See to it.”
Selena put down her drink and faced him squarely. “It doesn’t work like that, Admiral. The lenars work with us here by choice. They’ve already declined the opportunity to have colonies on other worlds, although I’ve suggested this again and they’re considering it. Their prime motive for helping us on Capulet is to ensure their survival here. That’s all they’re interested in.”
“Captain, this is not a request it’s an order. Make it happen, and soon. Is that understood?”
“Perfectly, Sir: but please be aware I can only ask them, not order them. If they agree, I have the ideal person for the job.”
“Who’s that?”
“Lieutenant Roberts, she’ll dovetail with Kes perfectly.”
Chapter Thirteen
Selena, Cox, Roberts and Shadow left the city and trekked deep into the forest. It was strange, Selena thought, for a great many years her people had thought the lenars extinct and yet they’d been here all this time. The group stopped as one, sensing the lenars coming. The long, slim creatures slipped from between the trees like ghosts and stood there facing them, waiting.
“I know you don’t understand my words,” Selena began, “but you do the feelings behind them. I’ve been asked if you’ll co
nsider some of your people going to Loreen, we’re worried about infiltrators. I know you were against this before but we’d like you to reconsider.”
“As I’m sure you’re aware, the ForeRunners tried to invade Capulet using their caretaker robots but luckily they failed. Because of this they may try to destroy this world. We have a lot of defences set up but it only takes one planet buster to get through and start a chain reaction, then this world will be gone and your people with it.”
They felt her feelings and concern and knew it was the truth. In turn she felt their fear, their query about where they could go and what they could do.
“There’s not a lot of land on Loreen but there’s still enough for you. Those of you who work with us will earn money which can be used to buy property on other worlds where there are forests, so eventually you’ll have several colonies. If you like we can look for a world of your own, it’s up to you. All we’ll need is a few of you aboard the search ships to make the selection.”
We are not many now.
She felt the words slip through her mind. Had she somehow linked the emotions to words, or had it developed into a form of telepathy?
“Cox here is starting a project to investigate the sickness affecting your people, to see what we can do. I’d like you to let him know as much as you can about it and take him to any sufferers you have. He’ll also need to take samples from you, and see the graves of your people who fell to this disease.”
She felt their agreement. “What can you tell me about it?”
We were aligned with who you called the ForeRunners, once.
Selena gasped. “What?”
It was a long time ago, when there was peace in the universe. When war broke out some of them came here and we allowed them to stay. The first time we fought was when the Manta tried to invade this world, and then the sickness came.
Selena turned to the others. “Did you get that?”
Cox turned to her. “The Manta? They used genetic warfare against the ForeRunners, so what was to stop them from using it against the lenars for helping their enemy? This seems weaker than what they used against the ForeRunners themselves, but it’s still effective. It also explains why the lenars attacked the Manta in the forest. They must have known who was responsible for their plague.”
