Shadow of the Blue Ring
Page 38
“But why are you doing all of this?” James continued to demand of the Al’cari, “our people have no quarrel with yours, we don’t have to fight one another. You were once a proud race who had a place in the galaxy, why would you reduce yourself to this?”
“It is nought but history,” the Al’cari said with a sorrowful tone, “and we are but what our history has made us.”
“Put your history to one side, you don’t have to be the evil that you have set out to become,” James begged of it, “we can find the last of your people a home, we can give you your own world, resources to build, a place in our community. You have a chance for redemption, to become something more than you are now. We can put the past and everything in it to one side and we can move on towards a better future if you would just give up this honourless quest of yours.”
“We are but what our history had made of us,” the Al’cari repeated, it’s tone continually dismissive, “we have but one goal now in our existence. We are to recover the Jaiytid weapon and we are to return it to the masters. We do not concern ourselves with your alliance or with the Adeans, we are tasked with delivering the weapon and that is what we must do. Keep your alliance out of our matters and we will not have to fight you anymore.”
“We will not stand by and just let you do this, we will stop you,” James said aggressively, “and these masters of yours, who are they? Who hired you to find the weapon and what do they want with it?”
“Do not interfere with our task, Human,” the Al’cari brushed aside his continuing questions, “we only desire the four pieces of the weapon and once we have them, we shall leave your alliance and your friends, the Adeans, behind. Neither my people nor the Lataka shall shed any more blood if you give us what we need. We…”
“Thats quite enough,” the Lataka captain butted in, “they need not know what we do, we leave them here to rot. We give the lord his weapon and we take payment, simple.”
“The alliance will never sit by and let you go though with this,” James warned him, “if you take the Shadow Bringer, they will hunt you down and find you and so will the Adeans.”
“This one has much spirit,” the Lataka captain laughed, “you know, I think we take him with us. Leave others to rot here but this one can come to the boss. Maybe you can talk to him in person.”
“We do not need him,” said the Al’cari, “we have what we came here to find, let the Human and his Jaiytid friends stay here. There is no need to kill them or torment them, there is no honour it. Let us return to our ships.”
“So you do still remember your honour?” James called out to the Al’cari as it turned to walk away with the rest of the Lataka, “some part of you must remember who you really are. You don’t have to do this!”
“We do not have a choice in the matter,” the Al’cari said, looking back over it’s shoulder, “we have nothing left but our orders and we will carry them out as we were instructed. We will return the weapon to our lord, it is the only way we will be free.”
“Hurry, we return now,” the Lataka captain urged his Al’cari counterpart along, leaving James and the rest of his crew to themselves, “as for you, you all have good time here on your old planet, I’m sure you will…”
The Lataka’s gloating was interrupted by a sound above them. James had noticed it too, he, his team and all the Lataka around them had all had their attentions drawn, something was coming in their direction, getting louder and louder as it did. Without warning, a wave of rockets hit the ground around them, landing in the thick of the Lataka ranks, scattering them and sending them running. James looked up to see two hovercraft drifting over them above the tree-line. The build of these craft looked very familiar, they looked very similar to the Akrian hovertanks that they had used during the attack on Vulia six years ago but with heavy modifications including rotors that now allowed them to fly.
“It can’t be…” James gasped, “. . . I don’t believe it…”
Several dozen soldiers wearing uniforms bearing a modified Akrian emblem, were dropping in from several carrier transports above them and had begun engaging the Lataka soldiers. James took his opportunity and went to grab one of the rifles dropped by a Lataka soldier. The Lataka captain sprang towards him but he picked the rifle up in time. He was too close to get a shot away but he managed to strike the Lataka around the head with the butt of the rifle, knocking him off balance but Lataka were made of strong stuff. James used the rifle to block it’s counter-punch then brought it around to strike him around the head again. He was off balance enough for James to work enough space to get a clean shot away, hitting the Lataka right in the gap in his armour at the neck, killing him instantly.
The rest of the team had taken their chance to join the fight too. Ansare, Morelli, Julio and Kosare all picked up the weapons they had dropped and joined the Akrian soldiers as they attempted to drive away the Lataka. Both Saavoy and Kyrakian had drawn their swords and were taking the enemy on headfirst, some competition seemingly between them to prove which of them was the most skilled with a blade. Another wave of rockets struck the Lataka soldiers who were attempting to regroup, one of them striking just meters from where James was stood, throwing several Lataka soldiers and the Al’cari captain to the ground, wounded. James watched, still almost in disbelief as the Akrians continued to drive the Lataka away. He had thought that the Akrians were now loyal to the Vulians and that their intentions now lay outside of the Freedom Alliance. There was one group that still remained loyal though, the men and women who had defected to Tolis after their world’s leaders elected not to rejoin the Freedom Alliance.
With the last of the Lataka fleeing into the ruined, overgrown city, another large drop-ship set itself down in a small clearing near the flyer’s position. Descending from the ship’s loading ramp was a face that James was overwhelmingly relieved to see.
“Captain Kristea…” James gasped, “. . . you are a sight for sore eyes.”
“Glad to be of service to you again, James,” Kristea said as she disembarked her ship, several more of her soldiers following her down to assist in securing the area, “I seem to remember pulling your ass out of a fire a while back too, you’re going to start owing me soon.”
“I guess so,” James could hardly disagree with her on that, “but what are you doing out here in the first place? How did you know where we had gone? How did you even get permission to come out here after us?”
“Slow down, one question at a time, James,” Kristea stopped him there, “and you would be better off asking the man who brought us out here…”
Kristea indicated to a second figure behind her. Tasos Artennes was also disembarking the drop-ship, kitted out in his own combat gear that James had imagined his father would never have wanted him to have to use.
“Sorry we took so long to get here” he said, “my father didn’t exactly make it easy for us to follow behind you.”
“Well I’m just glad you showed up when you did,” said James, “how did you manage to get away from your father though? I can’t imagine he would have approved of this course of action.”
“I just needed to dust off a few of the old decrees of the Artennes code,” Tasos explained, “there is a rule, set down by an early generation of my family, that when the son of the Artennes in power believes that his father is not acting in the best interests of the alliance, he is permitted to overrule him. I invoked the rule with a majority vote from the council and I dismissed the call to bring you in for insurrection. Once we realised where you were headed, I asked captain Kristea to gather up her men and to track you all the way out here just in case you got into any trouble.”
“So what does this mean for the alliance council?” James asked, “have you taken power from your father?”
“No, I just overruled his decision,” said Tasos, “almost everyone on the council realises that the attack on the Al’cari was a mistake and that we should
have listened to you in the first place. My father still holds power but his credibility has taken a major hit. There will be a lot of things to fix within the alliance once all of this is over but we’ll come to that later. Did you find the last piece of the Shadow Bringer?”
“Yes, the Lataka took it aboard the flyer, saved us the trouble of doing it ourselves,” said James, “the other two are still aboard the Evening Star. Oh… is my ship Ok? we lost contact with them before?”
“Your ship and your crew are fine,” Kristea quickly eased his concerns, “the Lataka had them boxed in with a few of their frigates and were jamming communications. We managed to scatter them when we showed up though, neither my ship nor yours took any major damage in the fight.”
“Glad to hear it,” said James, “but all of this means that we have three pieces of the Shadow Bringer now. The last piece is the one held by the Al’cari, we just need to find out where they are keeping it. We’re going to have to go back into the Blue Ring again I’m afraid.”
“We’ll need to get the alliance fleets rallied and ready to move out once we get back,” said Tasos, “the Al’cari have not made a move on us since the battle in the Blue Ring sector, not yet. We don’t know if they’re planning anything or if they will move on us now that they have failed out here but they were yet to make a move while we were still within communication range of the alliance worlds. You should gather up your crew, we need to head back to Tolis as soon as possible.”
James had almost forgotten… Kalmar. He quickly turned to where the rest of his crew were gathered to see what had become of his Adean crew member. He was still laid on the floor and James had feared the worst for a second but on closer inspection, he noticed that Kalmar was conscious, if a little bit groggy. The Lataka soldiers had given him quite a hit.
“Captain Kalmar, you Ok?”
“I’ll live,” he grumbled, lifting his head of the ground, Lucy helping him up on the way, “no thanks to any of you. Where is the Shadow Bringer? Did the Lataka get it?”
“No, we stopped them before they could get away with it,” said James, “and about all that stuff before, I’m sorry…”
“Don’t apologise, James,” Kalmar interrupted him, “as much as it would have torn me apart to see them walk away with that thing, I know that you would never have let anything happen to Isha. Any man in your position would have done the same thing. It isn’t your fault.”
“Well we’re all just glad you’re still in one piece,” James said, reaching out a hand to help Kalmar to his feet, “without you, we wouldn’t have ever got this far.”
“This isn’t over though,” said Ansare, “we know the hardest part of all is yet to come. We’re going to have to go to the centre of their operations and recover the final piece of the weapon. Who knows what we’ll find once we get there?”
“Why don’t you ask him?” Isha indicated to the Al’cari captain, wounded but alive, unable to climb to it’s feet due to it’s injuries. James cautiously approached the Al’cari, ready just in case it did find it’s strength and attack.
“Do not insult me Human,” it said dismissively, “please, just let me die in peace, I want no further part of this.”
“You said to me before that you had no choice in this matter,” James said, trying to maintain a soft tone in front of his wounded adversary, “who is controlling your people? Who sent you out here to find the Shadow Bringer.”
“It does not matter anymore, I want no further part in this,” the Al’cari repeated, “all we wanted was for our race to be free. He offered us a chance at redemption if we delivered him the Jaiytid weapon but now… we are doomed to fail. There are things going on in this galaxy that are beyond your knowing Human, you would do well to remember this.”
“We can end this now,” said James, “tell us where your base is and where we can find the last piece of the Shadow Bringer. If we assemble the weapon and destroy it, there will be no more reason for you to fight for this cause and you will be free of it. You can start over again.”
“No, my people will not give up on this dream,” said the Al’cari, “they will fight to the last warrior to bring this weapon back to our masters. Only when we do will our race be free of it’s shackles. There is no other way. If you destroy it, you doom us to become extinct, an echo in the histories of the empires of this galaxy. Please, Human, end my life, I have seen too much, I want it to all be over.”
“You could come with us,” James suggested, “we have a very good medical team, we can get you on your feet again. Help us find the Shadow Bringer and help us free your people. We can do this without any more of our people on either side being hurt.”
“A noble idea but there are no other individuals among my race who will share my sentiment,” the Al’cari was beginning to weaken, his voice fading with each passing minute, “if you must reclaim the final piece of the ancient weapon, you must fight us all and you must fight our Lataka servants too. If you want to end this war, you will have to end my people forever. Maybe we are better off that way, maybe it is better that we are dead than in the employ of our masters. The place we call our home is in a star-less system at the centre of the Alarkashin nebula, the one you refer to as ‘the Blue Ring’. You will find the final piece of the Jaiytid weapon there but you will need many men and machines to overcome the Lataka forces on that world as well as my own warriors. Defeat them and the weapon is yours, detonate it there and put my people out of their misery.”
“I will not commit genocide,” said James, “I wont wipe your people out, not if there is a chance you can be saved.”
“You must… do it,” the Al’cari gasped, “there is only one way this will end. My people will continue their campaign to find the weapon for as long as they draw breath. Either they will hunt you down, take the weapon and return it to their masters or you will use the weapon to end them for good. If you take it away and detonate it far in the dead reaches of space, my people will be forced to return home to face the punishment for their failure which will be torment worse than death. Put them out of their misery… put me out of my misery.”
The Al’cari captain was now gasping for breath, his wounds slowly and painfully claiming his life. James hated having to put down an unarmed captive but he raised his weapon and took the shot, ending the Al’cari’s life, if only to prevent his suffering further. It was a remarkable request that the Al’cari captain had made, ‘put his people out of their misery by destroying them, it is the only way to save them from eternal torment’. James had no idea what he was referring to or who the Al’cari masters might have been but one thing was clear… these people could never be allowed to take possession of the Shadow Bringer.
“Thirty five years we have been at war with them and no one among my people ever spoke to one,” said Kalmar, looking down on the Al’cari captain’s body, “if only we had known… we thought them to be mindless beasts this whole time. A lost race, controlled by an unknown master, sent out to recover the weapon and told that if they fail they will be subjected to horrors on their return. It doesn’t change the fact that we still need to get that last piece of the weapon though. At least we know where it is now. We can go there and we can end this for good.”
“I just wish the choice before me was easier,” James sighed, “wipe them out to put them out of their misery or spare them and send them back to a torment worse than death. I cannot make this decision, I cannot do this.”
“War never gives us easy choices James,” said Kristea, “no person should ever be put in a position to make a call like this but this is where we are at. It’s three days back to Tolis from here, you have some time to make up your mind. Just know that whatever you choose to do, you can count me in, I’m more than happy to ride this one out alongside all of you guys again.”
“You’re more than welcome, captain Kristea,” said James, “we can use every last bit of help we can get.”
James gestured for his crew to follow him as he went to board the flyer, Kristea and Tasos alongside them. The rest of the Akrian soldiers were boarding their own transports and they were taking off one by one, heading back to their mother ship high above them. Had it not been for Tasos’s actions in overruling his father, they would likely have become sport for the Lataka thugs or simply left stranded on the surface of Alatennia with no hope of rescue. Tasos had never been the most popular member of his crew back in the day, he had been perceived as arrogant, a little bit full of himself and quite dismissive of others. His latest actions, however, may have caused many of the crew to now see him in a different light, although it was unlikely Melina would ever want to speak to him again. She looked as if she wanted rip his head off after what he had done to her previously.
“Tasos certainly showed a lot of initiative to overrule his father the way he did,” James said to Kristea as the flyer took off, taking them back up into orbit, “perhaps maybe this is a sign that he is maturing as a leader?”
“He would certainly make a great soldier,” Kristea agreed, “plus he has a good heart, he cares about his people, he isn’t afraid to take action when it needs to be taken.”
“But you’ve spent a lot of time with him recently,” said James, “just how good of a leader will he be when its his time to take over?”
“Well, as much as he would make a good soldier, he is certainly no politician,” said Kristea, “leading our armies or commanding a fleet, I would be happy to follow him into battle. Put him at the head of that council though and I cannot see him being a success. He is too headstrong, too keen to get in on the action. For all of Jovan Artennes’s failings these past few weeks, his work over the past six years has been nothing short of admirable. He rebuilt the alliance from scratch let us not forget.”