by T. R. Harris
“You are Captain Kincaid,” the officer stated. “The crimes listed before me are extensive, and yet you say you wish to surrender?”
“That’s correct, and you should notify First-Secretary Patel as well. I spoke with him recently and he will find the information most interesting.”
“I have your location as fourteen thousand miles from the Station. Hold there. A security team will be sent aboard to secure you and Mr. Drake, as well as the vessel. To approach any closer will only invite your immediate destruction.”
“Understood, Commander, we will comply.”
Once the screen went dark, Robert turned to a confused-looking Bondel Drake.
“Granted, that will get us aboard, but locked away in a jail cell isn’t going to help us find and rescue our fair princess.”
“I don’t think we’ll be locked away, at least not right away. I think that egomaniac Patel will want to gloat over us for a while first.”
“And that’s when we strike, when in shackles and under guard?”
“That’s right; when they least expect it.”
“Damn you, Kincaid, your eternal optimism is wearing off on me. I’m beginning to believe we actually do have the upper hand.”
“Then my work here is done; time to ride off into the sunset.”
“Not before we save the planet Earth.”
“Oh, yeah…that. I almost forgot.”
*****
AFTER being boarded by eighteen security personnel, the Kai Shek was searched from top to bottom while Kincaid and Drake were placed in magnetic shackles. The space craft was then piloted around the long line of waiting starships and entered the space station through a side security bay.
The pair of renegade space pirates was then escorted under heavy guard to the private office of First-Secretary Kyle Patel.
Patel remained seated behind his desk as the two were brought before him. He didn’t appear very happy to see his uninvited company.
“So I see the reports of your death have been exaggerated.”
“Couldn’t die and miss the greatest show in the galaxy, now could I?”
Patel reached into a drawer and placed a Model-2560 uranium-pellet weapon and on the desktop. “You’ll forgive me if I question your motive for coming here, Captain Malicious. Somehow I find it hard to believe that your intentions are as you claim. No one with your list of crimes against Humanity simply surrenders without thinking they can turn the circumstance to their favor.” He then shifted his attention to Drake.
“And who are you, one of his mindless minions?”
“Bondel Drake, at your service, Mr. First-Secretary. And no, I’m not one of his minions—I am the head minion.”
“So just another wisecracking criminal? I’m sorry to inform you, Mr. Drake, but Kincaid has led you down the wrong path. I have come too far to let the two of you interfere with my plans for a more prosperous and peaceful UPE. You see, I’m not the villain here, you are. All I want is peace for my race, while all you want is to prolong a fruitless and bloody war. I can’t let that happen.”
“And that’s why you overthrew the regime of Victoria Simms?” Drake said. “Couldn’t get her to buy into your vision, could you, so you had her replaced? Sounds like a real hero-type we have here. Simply arrest the opposition rather than attempt to win the debate with reason and intelligence. Human history is full of egomaniacs like you, Patel. And no matter how benevolent you may think you’re acting, time will judge you just like all the other demented dictators before you.”
Drake and Kincaid looked at each other and Robert raised his eyebrows while nodding. “Great speech, Mr. Drake; couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“Why thank you, Captain Malicious.”
“I’m glad to see that the two of you are so full of yourselves that you can joke at a time like this. But let me show you how insignificant the two of you are in the whole scheme of things.”
Patel pressed a button his desk. “Bring her in.”
A moment later a side door opened and a struggling Victoria Simms was pulled into the room by two huge guards. She was in magnetic shackles as well and after a few moments of huffing and puffing she was placed near Patel’s desk.
She looked hard at Patel before shifting her attention to the two other men standing in handcuffs before the desk. Her gaze locked on Robert, just before a heavy frown came to her wrinkled forehead.
“So you’ve come to rescue me, Mr. Kincaid? How’s that working out for you?”
“Right on schedule, Madam President. I’m glad to see you’re still alive.”
“Old numb-nuts over there doesn’t have the balls to kill me. He knows that if he did it would cause more problems than he could handle.”
“For now, Madam President,” said Patel. “But once the ceremony is over, and all the UPE sees who it was that brought peace to the realm, then I will be able to do anything I want with you and no one will care.”
Drake frowned. “But the broadcasts said you would be at the ceremony, right beside Patel.”
Simms eyed Drake for a moment, trying to figure out if he was worth responding to. Finally she spoke. “That’s what I’ve heard, too. Yet with the ceremony starting in about an hour, he’s going to have to do some mighty fancy convincing…and do it mighty fast.”
All eyes turned to Kyle Patel. The dark skinned man of Indian descent smiled back at them. He then slowly rose from his chair, and taking the handgun with him, stepped past Victoria Simms and took a place near a wall with a huge round emblem of the UPE mounted on it.
“My dear Madam President, haven’t you been keeping up with technological advances?” he said with smirk. “You will be there at my side, and delivering praise upon me with your every breath. In fact, it will be downright embarrassing how much you’re going to gush over me and my success.” He then turned to his left and addressed the open air. “Isn’t that right, Madam President?”
Suddenly, a high-definition image of Victoria Simms appeared next to Patel, looking as real as the genuine article standing fifteen feet away. The image smiled. “That’s right, Kyle. I will be right there beside you—or more correctly—a step or two behind, smiling and admiring the moment. There will be no doubt as to who I respect and the cause I support.” Then the image looked at the real Victoria Simms and eyed her up and down. “Once this is done, Kyle, please see to it that I have some work done. In this day and age there is no reason for me to look like that.”
“Your wish is my command, Madam President. Now go get your rest. The show is about to begin.” The image abruptly disappeared.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Patel said to his three shackled guests. “It’s the same technology that allows three-hundred-year-old actors to still be making movies. It’s all digitized now, with every characteristic and nuance programmed in. Unless you place a hand right through her, no one will know the difference.”
“You truly are mad, Kyle. And if it’s true what Robert told you about those ships out there, then you’re about to preside over the death of our homeworld. No amount of fancy computer work will be able to disguise that.”
“It’s no use, Madam President,” Robert Kincaid said. “It’s obvious that Patel has covered all his bases. I underestimated you, Mr. First-Secretary. I see now it was a mistake coming here.”
“Better late than never, Mr. Kincaid, yet even your deathbed conversion won’t save you.”
“That’s okay. I didn’t want to live to see your final victory anyway. That would have been too much to take.”
“Oh, I’m in no hurry to kill you, Mr. Kincaid—any of you. In fact, I may have you digitized before doing the deed. It will be fun to have a subservient lapdog like you to kick around, if even as a hologram.”
Patel returned to his desk and pressed the button again, and when the guards returned he ordered them to take the three back to the president’s chambers.
Once the door closed and they were alone, both Drake and Simms descended on Robe
rt like a crashing wave.
“What the hell was all that about!” Drake yelled.
“What are you trying to do, win your freedom by turning on us?” Simms added.
Robert raised his shackled wrists and placed one finger against his lips. “Patel is too smart for us; it’s best if we just go along with him. He controls everything, with eyes and ears on this entire station. Besides, I really don’t think he’s a bad guy. He only has the best interest of the Human race in mind.”
Drake frowned hard at Robert, yet his eyes conveyed the message: I understand, yet I still don’t know what you expect to happen next.
“Let’s just watch that big screen over there. This ceremony is supposed to be the most-watched event in history. We wouldn’t want to miss it.”
Victoria Simms had picked up on Robert’s intimation of listening ears and all-seeing eyes, yet like Drake, she was at a loss at to what Robert had up his sleeve.
Still, they all turned to the huge screen. “Just watch,” he said. “If we’re wrong, then nothing will happen—which in that case we’re in some deep shit. Yet if we were right…then we’ll just have to wait and see.”
25
KYLE Patel had moved to another location within the massive space station. It was a broadcast studio with a projected image of ten of the Vixx’r scuttle fleet floating in space and all in close proximity to each other. Other members of the fleet could be seen trailing off into the distance, even though space between the huge ships had been compressed by the video image.
On the huge monitor, Robert, Drake and Simms watched as First-Secretary Kyle Patel entered a vast meeting hall—digitally-created—and climbed to a stage accompanied by President Victoria Simms, and all to the cheers of an unseen crowd. He stepped behind a podium while Simms stood off at a respectful distance and continued to smile. At one point, she even pointed and waved at someone in the imaginary crowd, impressing Robert with the authenticity of the entire scene.
“Greetings citizens of the UPE,” Patel said with unbridled enthusiasm. “Today marks an historic event in the history of mankind. Today we will have peace, ending a long-running conflict with our brothers in the galaxy, the citizens of the Vixx’r Confederation. Never before in the history of either race has there been a conflict like the one we just suffered through. This had been a struggle among intelligent races, born of other worlds and yet sharing many of the same wants, needs and desires. This commonality between races must be understood, as well as tolerated, and yet parties on both sides have sought to have dominion over the other. Well I’m here to tell you that those days are over!”
There came a roar of piped in cheering which took almost a minute to subside.
“I am joined here by our president, Victoria Simms, to share in this great moment. Madam President.”
Victoria stepped up to the podium. “Thank you, Mr. First-Secretary. I have to begin by saying at first I wasn’t as much a believer in the peace process as was Mr. Patel. I fought him long and hard, not trusting the Vixx’r to live up to their promises. And yet now, as I gaze out at the Peace and Solidary Fleet sent here by the Vixx’r, I have to admit he was right and I was wrong.”
The real Victoria Simms rushed the huge screen and had to be subdued by both Drake and Kincaid before she broke it to pieces with the metal handcuffs she wore.
“But this is Mr. Patel’s moment, so I will return the spotlight to him. I just want to thank him for including a non-believer like myself in this triumphant moment for mankind.”
“Such kind words, Madam President,” Patel said. “Yet you weren’t alone in your skepticism of the process and outcome; however, sometimes it takes extraordinary perseverance to achieve great things, and I’m just glad I had the willpower to see this process through to the end.
“Now before us lies a fleet of fifty mighty Vixx’r warships, while at this same time, a sister fleet of Human warships sits in orbit around Vixx. At my signal, ships of the United Fleet Command will close on the scuttle fleet and fire upon it. There will be one shot placed in each vessel, and the warheads shall be dormant. After all, this is an unarmed and unmanned fleet the Vixx’r have sent here, and the ceremony is symbolic.
“Yet upon completion of the ceremony, that is when the symbolism ends and reality begins. At the conclusion, the Vixx’r will break off all hostile action in the Midlands and withdraw. They will also return control of the Reaches back to the citizens who live there. They will retreat to the disputed territory known to us at the Shadowlands, where they have promised to protect all Humans residing there against any aggression or threat of harm.”
Patel paused and pretended to scan the vast crowd before him. “Ladies and gentlemen of the UPE—we have won!”
This time the cheering went on for a full two minutes, as Simms clapped in the background and Patel tried to quiet the unseen masses with several pleas lost in the noise.
Finally, he was allowed to continue.
“And now, I give the order: Fleet commanders, you are free to engage.”
The scene now shifted to space, as dozens of media drones flew within the scuttle fleet and outside the UPE ships as they closed on their designated targets. But then a few of the drones began to notice the aft landing bays doors on the Vixx’r ships begin to open. Controllers at the broadcast stations directed their cameras on the bays, which remained empty and dark.
And then a tiny object zipped past the screen, followed by another and then another. The three prisoners in the president’s chambers each gasped. It was beginning.
Within seconds, the cameras were following the flight of thousands of tiny, multi-faceted objects. Still pictures were captured and the images enlarged and placed on screens so the entire Human community could see them close up. Commentators began to speculate as to the purpose of the objects; unfortunately, only a handful of people in the Human galaxy knew the true purpose of the strange objects, and three of them were locked away and unable to do anything about it.
Just then the first grouping came together, and a light glow from thousands of tiny sparks began to encircle the cluster. Even before the broadcasters could comment, thousands more of the objects embedded themselves onto the mass. The sparks grew stronger and even more prevalent. Soon the module was the size of one of the Vixx’r four-masters, and growing with every second.
Kyle Patel was scared, yet he tried to put on a good face for the cameras. “Ah, look, the Vixx’r have surprised us with a high-tech fireworks display to commemorate the occasion. I feel bad now, since we offered nothing like this for their ceremony on Vixx.”
Yet as the ball grew larger and more-massive, wide strands of white lightning whipped around the cluster, Patel began to sweat and his eyes grew wide and shifty. All the while, the serene image of Victoria Simms remained calm and smiling on the stage behind him.
And then one of the huge bolts struck a Vixx’r starship and the resulting explosion could be seen all the way to the surface of the planet, five hundred and eighty miles below. Several other ships where struck by a myriad of wild, deadly lightning bolts, and when eight ships exploded simultaneously, everyone across the UPE knew something truly horrific was in the making.
Fleet ships began to fire on the ever-growing object, yet try as they might, nothing could get past the mass of sparkling electricity enveloping the device. As the weapon grew larger, the reach of its tentacles grew as well. Several more UPE ships erupted in puffs of white and yellow light, before the vacuum of space snuffed out what flame there was, leaving only dissipating debris clouds orbiting the Earth.
And then the first bolts began to reach the Council Central Space Station.
The three prisoners were knocked off their feet by the impact of the first bolt, and then they felt the station continue to be struck over and over again by bolts of ever-increasing intensity.
Everything went dark and the station lost gravity.
Robert felt his stomach rise up in his throat as the brief sensation of falling overcame h
im. But he was an experienced space jock, and he soon regained his composure. In the darkness, he could hear a different reaction coming from President Simms. She wasn’t as accustomed to sudden shifts in gravity as he was, and now she was literally filling the room with her displeasure.
Emergency battery-powered lights came on, bathing the room in a soft, red glow. Simms vomited again when she suddenly found herself swimming in a sea of her own expulsion. Fortunately, she found a hand hold and pulled herself out from within the foul-smelling mess.
“Is this what you were expecting, Robert?” Drake asked as he drifted near the ceiling. “I’m sorry, but I can’t see how our situation has improved.”
“Oh ye of little faith,” he replied with a smile. And then Robert extended his arms to full length, until the magnetic shackles were only inches from Drake’s face…and then he pulled his arms apart.
The flat surface of the handcuffs between his wrists separated and the bracelets around them fell away. He was free, and Drake quickly followed. It took Simms a moment longer to realize what just happened before she threw off her own shackles.
“How did you know?” Drake asked.
“It was something our young scientist said, about the accompanying electromagnetic pulse with the bolts. These are standard-issue electro-magnetic cuffs, as found on every UPE military craft. With the EMP, all their circuits have gone dead.”
Drake looked around at the dimly lit room. “As is the station, and as that thing out there keeps growing, it will soon go the way of the nearby starships. But at least I can raise my arms in horror as the station blows up.”
“Let’s get to the Kai Shek.”
“It’s going to be dead, too.”
“We’ll see. Now let’s go.”
The three of them now began to move from hand-hold to hand-hold until they reached the sliding door to the room. “It’s locked,” said Simms, before she bit her lip. “Or it was locked.”
