by Seth Libby
The group moved to the beginning of a corridor as the captain spoke.
“A salvage team located the shuttle while scanning for any active transmissions. We wanted to make sure our victory wasn’t being transmitted to the Shenkar home world. Needless to say our shuttle crew found the shuttle adrift venting atmosphere. Hoping to maybe find something useful within the shuttles computers the crew docked with the shuttle and found the two Shenkar warriors unconscious within. The Shenkar that had been piloting was wounded but it was nothing life threatening and he seems to be recovering quickly. The other warrior, however, was severely wounded and needed immediate medical attention. Our medical staff was able to patch him up enough to prevent him from dying but he is still in a coma. There isn’t much more we can do with our limited knowledge of the Shenkar physiology…..at least with these two.”
“What do you mean? What is different with these two?” asked the admiral.
“Perhaps you should wait and see for your own eyes as it is just up ahead. Should you need anything I will be in my day cabin or on the bridge, just use the communication link next to the cell,” Dunklin said waving his hand in the direction of a corridor.
The corridor dead ended perhaps twenty feet down from the guard post. The only other exits from the hall we four clear doors, two on each side of the passageway.
“It is the first cell on the right, sir.” Captain Dunklin said to the Admiral.
Admiral Kelvin stepped up to the door and looked in. Sitting upon the bed was a Shenkar warrior. Unblinking solid black eyes met the Admirals eyes, each scrutinizing the other. Kelvin noticed immediately a difference with the Shenkar warrior in the cell from the ones data provided to them by the Meshtrell. This one was slightly shorter than the average Shenkar warrior but that wasn’t the major difference. All Shenkar warriors he had seen before today were much the same but their skin was normally covered in what looked like tiny blue scales. This one however, while it did have the same blue colored skin, lacked the small scales. There were also other differences, although not as significant. He was not as muscular, like the warriors that had assaulted Hanscom during the first invasion. This warrior’s body was lithe, making him more agile looking. He also didn’t have the more elongated arms that he had seen before. This particular Shenkar looked very human in comparison to the Shenkar he had seen before.
He also dressed differently, kind of the look of an officer. From what he could remember from the intelligence reports he would give this one’s rank: Overlord. He also held himself like one used to giving commands. There was intelligence behind those eyes, intelligence and cunning.
Admiral Kelvin studied the Shenkar for several moments as the warrior stared back at him. The Shenkar’s gaze held no malice in it, he simply stared blankly as if studying his captures.
“Do you understand me?” Kelvin finally asked.
At first the warrior did nothing, he looked to be a little taken aback at being addressed. Tilting his head as if thinking over what the admiral said he finally nodded an affirmative that he understood.
“Do you have a name? I am called Frank Kelvin, I hold the rank of admiral.”
Again the Shenkar seemed to think over what was said to him before he answered with one word.
“Shizta Flezinia.”
“Judging from the looks of your uniform, and the information we have, can we assume you hold the rank of overlord?” asked Admiral Kelvin.
Shizta didn’t say anything; he only nodded an affirmative to the question.
“Well Shizta, let me introduce you to President Adam Sheehan and Prime Minister Colin Denshire. These two are two of the leaders of the world your race has attacked; they wish to speak with you of a possible cease fire between our two races.”
December 26th, 2013 11:58am
EDF Kraken, Terran system, high Earth orbit
Shizta eyed the two men that had been introduced to him, trying to measure their quality from just their appearance. Both men looked intelligent and capable of taking care of themselves, for humans, yet neither looked to be warriors. Both men had the appearance of mediators or what these humans called politicians. The tall dark skinned man, however, did have the appearance of a warrior. While he looked of advancing age he still appeared capable.
Studying the three men made Shizta wondered if these humans were of one race or of several similar races. With the Shenkar race, while all clearly held their own unique features, were still similar. These humans however, could be found with several skin, hair and eye color differences. But it wasn’t even color that came in wide variety, their eye shapes and styles of hair were different.
Shizta pushed thoughts of human’s features out of his mind as he wondered if this offer of a possible ceasefire was true. Such an act is hardly the actions of a race dedicated to war. There was also the bandaging of him and his fellow warriors wounds, again not the actions of a race that coveted war. Perhaps they wanted him healthy so they could torture him without fear of death. Even as Shizta thought this he doubted this was the case. For some reason deep in his gut he felt these humans weren’t the torturing type. At least part of him felt that, he still couldn’t shake those images of that human tearing through the Tryliene slaughtering every Shenkar he came upon. The anger that human possessed, never mind the sheer power. Still it couldn’t hurt to speak with these two humans, even though it probably wouldn’t come to anything.
“We can speak of it if you wish but I don’t know if I can promise anything.”
December 26th, 2013 12:05pm
EDF Kraken, Terran system, high Earth orbit
Retrieving two chairs, Admiral Kelvin placed them in front of the cell door for the President and Prime Minister. Once seated, they both turned their full attention to Shizta.
“Are you comfortable? Do you require anything?” asked President Sheehan.
Shizta again seemed to be taken aback by such a question. Admiral Kelvin was beginning to think the Shenkar painted a much different picture of what the humans were like. After a few moments Shizta seemed to recover.
“I am fine.”
“This conflict between our two races has resulted in countless deaths on both sides. We would like to find a way to end this without any further bloodshed.”
“Why would a race bent on war and domination want peace?” asked Shizta.
December 26th, 2013 12:10pm
EDF Kraken, Terran system, high Earth orbit
All three of the humans looked surprised, no shocked, by the question Shizta had just asked. Again Shizta felt that pit deep down inside him that perhaps the Shelecore had been wrong about these humans…or perhaps he had lied. Shizta had been fighting for the Shenkar Federation for most of his adult life. All warriors had been taught that the Shenkar Federation was the ultimate race in the universe; all other sentient races were beneath them. All must serve the Federation or be exterminated. What if their teachings were incorrect? In truth, all basis for these teachings was their own history of subjugation under the Meshtrell. History had taught that the Shenkar had rebelled and won their freedom several generations ago but could history be wrong? Shizta had been told these humans served the Meshtrell but he found this hard to believe. From all accounts, he would say the humans were working with them and not for them. True enough, the first encounter between humans and Shenkar had resulted with the humans initiating the attack. However, that is a matter of semantics as the Shenkar would have attacked them first if the roles had been reversed. The Shenkar had always attacked first as a way of showing their military strength. Of the races they had subjugated, most had surrendered after the initial attack by Shenkar forces. Shizta didn’t like what he was feeling, beginning to question the Shelecore, his beliefs, the very foundation of everything he knew.
He examined his bandaged thigh again, seeing the care that had been put into in placing the bandage. It wasn’t until he looked up again at the three humans did he notice how quiet it had gotten. All three humans were looking at him w
ith interest, still looking disturbed by what he had asked them. Clasping his hands in front of him he cocked his head to the side before speaking.
“You didn’t answer my question. Do you deny my claim?”
It was one of the men sitting down, the President Adam Sheehan, that spoke up.
“Of course we deny your claim; we are a peaceful race under normal circumstances.”
Shizta sat back, giving the human a skeptical look that plainly said he thought differently. The look was not lost on the human President because he didn’t hesitant in speaking again.
“Like I said, under normal circumstances we are a peaceful race. This is hardly what we could call normal circumstances. I can also fully admit we fired the first shots at our first encounter with your race. We were acting under the intelligence that had been provided by the Meshtrell. Do you deny that if we hadn’t fired the first shot that your race wouldn’t have attacked us?”
Shizta didn’t even try denying the accusation for he knew full well the Shenkar would have initiated the conflict between their two races.
“No, I will not try and deny this as we both know the truth. Let me ask you something I have been curious about. Why did you take the word of the Meshtrell of what the Shenkar were? My history teaches that the Meshtrell created us to use us as slave labor. We were treated like mere animals, their beasts of burden with no regards to anything we felt. It wasn’t until many generations ago did we rise up and free ourselves from our chains of slavery.
From that day forward we learned that we must be the teachers and all other races are our students. From birth we are taught to believe we must subjugate all inferior races to educate them.”
It wasn’t either of the two seated men that spoke in response to Shizta’s statement; the large dark skinned man broke his silence.
“You don’t see how ridiculous that sounds? You claim your race suffered under the rule of the Meshtrell so you rebelled. Winning your freedom you in turn attack lesser races and do exactly what you claim the Meshtrell did to you.”
Shizta shook his head negatively to the dark skinned human’s words.
“You do not understand, we do this for their own protection. We educate them to prevent them from making the mistakes the Meshtrell made with us.”
Again the dark skinned human shook his head negatively as he spoke.
“And by doing so you do exactly what you claim the Meshtrell did to you. You subjugate a race and prevent them from leading their own lives. How can you not see this? By holding them to your rules you prevent them from growing as the race they were and they become products of the Shenkar.”
Shizta thought this over and what he thought troubled him. He really had never given it much thought. Could the human be right? What he said did hold a lot of merit. In truth by subjugating a race they did in turn stunt the path of growth the race would have taken. How could this never have been questioned before? He, however, didn’t really need someone to answer that last question for him. The Shelecore was law and since birth it was always taught that the Shelecore was not to be questioned. How could the Shenkar have let themselves become what they fought against?
This wasn’t the first time Shizta had doubts. In the past year Shizta had really had his eyes opened. He had recognized himself for being selfish and somewhat cowardly. Not cowardly in respect to being afraid to fight as he wouldn’t run from a fight. He had just never stepped up when he felt an order should have been questioned. He had backed down from challenges from Krailsha but again not because he had been afraid but because that was just the way things were. Leaders were not to be questioned as they were a leader for a reason. They possessed the knowledge required to lead successful military campaigns. It had worked in the past so it had never been questioned. Now it seemed the Shenkar had met a most worthy opponent. An opponent that could very well be the undoing of the Shenkar Federation.
Shizta’s thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of two more humans. Both new arrivals saluted the dark skinned man before greeting the other two seated humans. One was very tall, almost the same height as one of the Shenkar clone warriors. The other was roughly the same height as Shizta and somehow looked familiar. He racked his mind to think of where he might have seen this human. After several moments it came to him and his blood went cold. He knew where he had seen this human before and for the first time in Shizta’s life he experienced fear.
December 26th, 2013 12:23pm
EDF Kraken, Terran system, high Earth orbit
Liam and Evan stood at attention until Admiral Kelvin looked their way. Admiral Kelvin motioned for the two to approach and they quickly stepped forward. Liam quickly saluted the admiral before he relaxed and smiled. The President and Prime Minister didn’t rise to greet them, only giving a brief hello before returning to what seemed a deep conversation. Quickly glancing into the room the two politicians sat in front of Liam saw a Shenkar warrior seated upon a bed. The Shenkar seemed to be in deep thought as well and whatever he was thinking about seemed to have him troubled. The cell opposite also held a wounded Shenkar warrior who appeared to be in serious condition.
“He hasn’t regained consciousness yet,” said Admiral Kelvin.
“Excuse me sir?” asked Liam.
“The Shenkar warrior, I saw you looking at him. He has been unconscious ever since he was found aboard a damaged shuttle.”
“Do they expect him to recover?”
“Don’t know for sure but the doctors are optimistic.”
Liam turned and looked back into the cell with the seated Shenkar warrior, studying him for a few moments.
“What do we know of this one?”
“His name is Shizta and he holds the rank of overlord with the Shenkar Federation. So far we haven’t learned much other than disagreeing in each other’s views. Although I think we might have this one doubting his own leader’s decisions. It seems the Shenkar believe that subjugating lesser technological races prevents them from turning into tyrannical races. His point of view is from generations of indoctrination. I personally think it is just a lot of brainwashing that has led to their way of thinking.”
“But you said this one seems to be having doubts? Maybe this is something we could work with.”
“Maybe but I wouldn’t hold my breath. But enough talk of this, I didn’t call you here to discuss Shenkar morality. With recent events we need to revise our plans for the future. It is plain the Shenkar will not give up, something we will need to deal with. For several reasons we cannot just sit back and fight off any future attacks by the Shenkar. First of all with every attack by the Shenkar we lose men and woman. Men and woman, we cannot easily replace while the Shenkar can just brew up a new batch of cloned warriors. Their shipyards, it seems, can continue to build their fleets quickly. With those combinations our defense would be slowly whittled down to nothing.
Now our original plan, as you know, was to launch an assault against the Shenkar core worlds in hopes of liberating some of the races they have enslaved. Unfortunately this plan will need to be altered with recent events.”
“Thanks to that French jerk,” muttered Evan.
Liam sighed as he gave Evan as exasperated look,
“What is it about the French that you don’t like anyways?”
“What?” Evan asked innocently.
“Yeah I have to agree with the commander. You really do not have a very good opinion of the French, why is that?”
Evan looked from Liam to the Admiral and back again before giving a sigh of defeat.
“I was in Paris for my senior trip and was treated so poorly by the local populace that I never wanted to go back. I thought maybe it was me that was causing the issue but then I witnessed a group of shop keepers speaking very rudely to a girl in French. It was clear the girl did not understand but she was attempting to speak to them in French. The key factor was she was American. So now do you see my reasoning?”
“Have you ever been to southern France?” Kelvin inquir
ed.
“No, I cut my trip short and went home.”
“Too bad, your opinion would be different. The people are southern France are very nice.”
Evan didn’t have anything to say to this and the admiral returned to the more important subject at hand.
“Back to our earlier subject, I plan to have Captain Dunklin take the Kraken into Shenkar space and launch guerilla-style attacks upon the Shenkar.”
“Like we did last year?” asked Evan.
“No, not quite, we will be trying to avoid hitting any of their warships. The Kraken will have a fully equipped division of the new Praetorian Guard with them. We will be hitting their shipyards, factories and supply lines. We are also hoping to contact some of the races the Shenkar have subjugated and establish some sort of resistance. I will be going along as a sort of liaison for Earth. Because we don’t know much of the planets we will be visiting, it leaves us mostly in the dark in the beginning.”
“So where do we fall in all of this?” Liam asked, indicating Evan and himself.
“Well, in addition to the division of Praetorian Guard, we will also be sending along roughly all of the Templar Knights as well as many of the newly trained Paladins as possible. Of the Paladins, how many would you say are trained enough to accompany the Kraken?”
Liam didn’t need to think this over, he knew exactly how many and who would be ready.
“Roughly one thousand should be ready, barring any that might have died in the recent battle. I haven’t received word of the seriously wounded or KIA for the Templars or the Paladins. Also, Evan’s wife will not be going as she is pregnant.”
At hearing this news the Admirals eyebrows rose in surprise. Then he frowned slightly as he thought of something.
“I was under the impression that none of the enhanced could get pregnant, something to do with the body viewing it as a foreign invader and would automatically terminate the pregnancy.”
