The Exxar Chronicles: Book 03 - Acts of Peace and War

by Neal Jones

  "My gods," Thalor muttered. "She's right. Draussen was taking too big of a cut."

  "I tried to talk her out of it, to change her mind, but she insisted on confronting him. We were on Shel'Belard to meet with the Indravians to deliver a shipment of biotoxin. We had a celebratory drink at the bar, and that night was the last time I saw her. She was gone the next morning. I screened my contact on Morkred, asking if Draussen had seen her. The answer back was no. And since Sesrin and I already transmitted his share of the profits for that run, he apparently didn't much care if she suddenly disappeared. So I left as well." Tilura gave a bitter snort and then emptied her tumbler. "Funny thing about Draussen. Apparently you can leave his organization whenever you want, as long as you don't owe him any money."

  "No," Grax corrected her, refilling both of their glasses. "He let you go because you don't know anything about his organization. I'm betting that all the two of you did was smuggle product for him. You never actually met him, did you? Or any of his top lieutenants?"

  Tilura shook her head.

  "So..." Thalor continued after a few moments, "that's when you decided to come look me up and tell me about Sesrin."

  "Yes."

  "And you're convinced that she didn't vanish on her own? She might have just been ditching you – the same way you left me on Mr'gss-Gl'nn."

  "Yes, I'd already thought of that," Tilura replied in a biting tone. "That's why I hung around Shel'Belard for a couple months. I left messages with some of our former contacts in that part of the sector, but if she received them she never responded." Shrane stood, pacing the middle of the room, sipping her brandy. "I know she left to find Draussen's headquarters. She was certain that it was somewhere in the Brool system. I wasn't so sure. Draussen doesn't seem the type to share a planet with four other mob lords – especially Jaegin's organization. Nor would he set up operations that close to Jha'Drok space. I've always assumed he was on or near Morkred since that's where we usually received our orders from."

  Grax shook his head as he sat behind his desk and activated his terminal. "Probably not. Too close to the Federation border for his comfort."

  Tilura stopped pacing. "What are you doing?"

  "Sending another message to Sol. Last time he talked to me I used one of my surveillance subroutines to pinpoint his location. It came close, but the transmission didn't last long enough."

  "Surely Sol isn't that stupid. He knows you're trying to find him."

  "That's why I'm going to offer him something he can't refuse."

  "Which is?"

  Grax only smiled cryptically as he finished sending his message. "You haven't told me how you wriggled out of that arrest warrant."

  "I swear on all the Saints, Thalor, that I don't know how that was taken care of. Like I said, I was fully expecting a return trip to homeworld."

  "Oh, come on, Tilura! You've told me everything else, why keep lying now?"

  "I swear!" she insisted. "I'm as eager to find out who's behind that as you are. I was hoping you could use your hacking skills to get into the global police net on homeworld."

  "No. I'm good, but I'm not that good."

  "But Solomon could, right?" Grax scowled and looked away. "So that means that both of us have a good reason to find him." Tilura set her empty tumbler on the desk and started for the door. "Let me know when he responds. I'm going to go pack and get something for lunch."

  Grax shook his head, sighing, as he refilled his glass.

  ( 5 )

  "J'Soran?"

  Varis smiled, hesitant. "Hello, Vasik. I wasn't sure if you would remember me or not."

  "I didn't at first. It's been a long time."

  "Yes, it has. I see that you're an anteri now."

  "And you're a brantar. How is it out there on Exxar-One? I imagine you're quite busy these days."

  "I am. In fact, there's been an incident here, and it's why I'm calling you now."

  "Then it must be about a missing person?"

  "Sort of. You investigated a case five years ago involving a missing genetics professor at the Bri'Nai Institute?"

  Prill frowned, thinking, and then nodded. "Yes, that's right. Korik Moru, if I recall correctly."

  "Yes, that's him. He showed up here on Exxar-One under another identity, however. Harmod Rosa." She explained what she and Navarr had uncovered thus far in their investigation. "I offered to take over this case and continue it in person there on Anjisald. But I wanted to call you first to let you know I was coming; and to see if there was any other details about that case that I should know of before I left here."

  Prill shook his head. "It wasn't a very thick case file. I did what I could, but there were no leads. I had to discontinue the investigation after only a few weeks. I always knew instinctively back then that the doctor had disappeared under adverse circumstances, and it looks like I was right. But what else do you hope to find here?"

  "Honestly, I don't know. I'm hoping that if I retrace the steps of your investigation, paired with what we've uncovered here in the last couple days, I might find a new lead."

  "Okay. I'm happy to help in any way I can. When will you be arriving?"

  "Probably two days, maybe three. I'll screen you when I arrive."

  "See you then."

  ( 6 )

  Lord Emperor Valayne sat back in his seat, exhaling heavily as he gazed at the stars beyond the viewport. The private shuttle bearing him and First Lovar Ryomekk from the battle carrier Qath Q'ordan was descending towards the tiny planet that was the sole habitation in this small star system at the edge of the Tasumlor sector. The planet Sarlond was gold and bronze and cream, lovely to behold from space, but whose shimmering beauty belied the deadly gases of its atmosphere. The murky, stormy surface was uninhabitable to all carbon-based lifeforms, but the Ko'Mar were not carbon-based. In fact, no one in the Emperium knew exactly what the Ko'Mar's physiology was. Their emissaries, a humanoid species called the D'Yori, lived aboard a large, sprawling space station in high orbit of the planet. The outer docking ring was the final destination of the lord emperor's shuttle.

  The station itself seemed to be a conglomeration of interconnected spheres and hexagonal pylons, all of it thrown together in a rambling mass, as if the whole structure had been built in small pieces at a time over hundreds of centuries instead of just a few years by the standard calendar. According to one of Lord Emperor S'elrim's early reports, the station had been completed less than a decade after the arrival of the Ko'Mar in this system, but, by all appearances, the expansive, ebony mass looked to the naked eye as if it had been cobbled together with no rhyme or reason hundreds of years ago. Erengaar craned his neck to get a better view of the starbase, and the more he gazed at the center of it, the more it seemed that pieces of the station were...shimmering, or not quite all there. He blinked, certain that he was imagining it, and, sure enough, everything seemed whole enough and perfectly ordinary. The lord emperor scowled and glanced impatiently at the arm of his chair to see how much time was left before docking. He turned to Ryomekk. "N'Ro. What do we know about that planet? Are there any bases on it?"

  "According to official reports from Vuil'SN there are fourteen large bases on the planet's surface. As to the exact nature of those bases...well, the D'Yori haven't made that clear, and the Talik'Jhor haven't pressed them for answers."

  "Hhmmm," Erengaar murmured, frowning. "And not since my grandfather has anyone visited this world."

  "No. The secret pact was signed aboard a battle carrier in orbit. Ever since, the Ko'Mar have been very explicit in their command that no one enter this star system."

  "Aren't I the lucky one then," the lord emperor commented dryly.

  A chime rang from the com panel at the front of the cabin, signaling that the pilot had begun to maneuver the shuttle into the docking bay. The two men waited until a second chime sounded, and then they released their seat restraints and stood.

  Vuil'SN was waiting at the foot of the ramp as Erengaar and N'Ro descended fro
m the shuttle. "Lord emperor, first lovar, welcome to Star-station Treym."

  "Mister Vuil'SN." Erengaar glanced around the small bay. There were no other men, no other shuttles. No sign of work stations or consoles. The entire room was black, the walls, floor, and ceiling composed of a non-reflective material that seemed ordinary at first direct glance, yet shimmered oddly from the corner of the lord emperor's eye.

  "This way, please," Vuil'SN continued. "I have some refreshments prepared. I know your journey has only been a few hours, but you're probably hungry, am I correct?"

  Erengaar exchanged a glance with Ryomekk. "Yes, we are."

  At first, it appeared that their guide was leading them straight into a wall. But then a part of it vanished, revealing a corridor on the other side. It, too, was entirely black, an ebony shade that seemed to stretch forever in all directions. And yet, after staring at it for a few moments, the lord emperor discovered that he could see the angles where the walls met the ceiling and floor. Furthermore, it seemed that the walls, upon closer examination, were a slightly different shade of coal than the floor and ceiling. And then it occurred to him why he was so disconcerted by all the shades of black.

  The corridor and the docking bay were well lit, yet there was no visible source of illumination. It was if the light emanated from all around – sideways, above and below. It was unseemly for a lord emperor to gawk, and Erengaar snuck a sideways glance at Ryomekk to see if the first lovar had come to the same revelation. He was staring straight ahead at Vuil'SN's back, but Erengaar could see from the slight twitching around his eyes that the head of the Talik'Jhor was as unsettled as he was by the physical environment around them. As with the docking bay, there were no com panels or workstations set into the walls. The technology of this place was truly alien, unlike anything that the Jha'Drok had ever possessed. It seemed even more advanced than what the crew of Il T'Shrak had found over a century ago on the other side of the Erayan hypergate.

  So far, it also seemed that the three of them were the only beings aboard the station. But then, here and there, portals in the walls opened to admit other personnel. All were the same species as Vuil'SN, and they made no word or glance in the direction of the Jha'Drok visitors as they went on their way past them. Only the soft click click of their heels interrupted the ominous silence of the place. Erengaar realized then that that was the other disconcerting element of this strange starbase. There was no hum within the walls, indicating the hidden computer cabling and network that delivered power to all sections from the core at the heart of the station; assuming, of course, that there was a core somewhere in the bowels of this foreign place that produced its power and kept it running. For some reason, the thought of a station of this size having no central power core made perfect sense given the extreme alien design witnessed thus far in the tour, and Erengaar suppressed an inward shiver.

  The last time he had felt this frightened was when, as a young boy, he had snuck into the Temple of the Lords in Gtheldron. The royal family was preparing for the naming ceremony of a cousin who had been born a few weeks earlier, and Erengaar had escaped his escort and snuck into the sanctuary while it was still empty and silent. The place seemed so large and intimidating with the long rows of stone pews vacant and no father intercessor at the altar. Only the hollow eyes of the Lords of Jha'Dar stared back from their stone faces carved into the high walls behind the altar. For the first time in his precocious and reckless life, Erengaar had been stunned into reverence and fear, and he had quickly tiptoed back out of the auditorium. He had intended to run around and mess about, but something in the atmosphere of the church had stilled him into unexpected reverence, and he felt that same reverence now. As he followed Vuil'SN deeper into the heart of the alien station, the lord emperor wondered for a fleeting instant why he and Ryomekk had not been more insistent with Vuil'SN on bringing a retinue of guards with them.

  Vuil'SN finally paused before a section of wall, and then stepped through the opening that materialized a moment later. Beyond was a small room, no larger than a standard transport pod aboard a Jha'Drok vessel. As soon as Erengaar and N'Ro were inside, Vuil'SN spoke a command, and the lift hummed into motion. Only that barely perceptible sound and the familiar tingling in his stomach told Erengaar that they were rising. As with everywhere else on the station, there were no com panels or other displays to indicate that they were moving or what sections they were passing.

  The lord emperor cleared his throat. "Mister Vuil'SN, this station seems quite remarkable. What kind of technology was used in its construction?"

  Vuil'SN's smile was not entirely pleasant, as though he wasn't accustomed to doing it. "Thank you, lord. It is remarkable, isn't it? I wish that my people could take credit for it, but the technology is entirely the Ko'Mar's. We are merely...users."

  The 'door' appeared once more, though Erengaar had not felt the lift arriving at its stop. Their guide led him and Ryomekk into another corridor identical to the one outside the docking bay. This walk, however, was not as long. The room in which Vuil'SN ushered them was the same ebony shades as the corridors, but, thankfully, the room was furnished with a long, gray table and chairs. However, the fact there were no screens or consoles on the walls – much less decorations of any other kind – still made Erengaar ill-at-ease. He strode determinedly to the head of the table and sat, motioning for Ryomekk to take the seat to his right. If Vuil'SN took offense at the lord emperor's directness, he gave no sign. He sat at Erengaar's left.

  "Our refreshments will be here momentarily." The D'Yori tapped a spot on the table in front of him, and a three dimensional screen appeared in the air above the center of the table. "The view you are seeing is of one of our laboratories on the surface of Sarlond." He tapped another hidden control to zoom in on the medical bed in the center of the room. "The project that we have been working on for the last century involved cloning. It has been a very arduous and difficult process, and only in the last twenty years have we finally achieved the breakthroughs that have allowed us to make several cloned soldiers like the one you see here." A Jha'Drok male was lying unconscious on the medical bed while a D'Yori doctor examined him with a bioscanner.

  "Cloned soldiers?" Erengaar echoed, stunned.

  "Yes," Vuil'SN said, beaming. As before, his smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and his expression gave the lord emperor a distinct chill. "This is part of our bargain with your predecessors, lord emperor. Your grandfather requested our help in making the Jha'Drok Emperium the most feared power in this quadrant of your galaxy. The first phase of our operation was the assault legion." Vuil'SN paused, and his smile vanished. "Unfortunately, your imperial senate did not keep as close watch on its legislators as it should have. The loss of that fleet was very tragic for your people." His expression smoothed out, and he continued speaking, anticipating Erengaar's interruption. "Nonetheless, we must not dwell on past mistakes. This cloning project will more than make up for that loss, I believe. This was the second phase of our operation, although it has taken considerably longer to complete than my superiors initially planned."

  "How so?" Ryomekk queried.

  "Well, for starters, it took nearly fifty years – by your calendar, of course – to perfect the cloning process. Our medical science is quite advanced, yet there were several unexpected issues with the fragility of your species – with all the species in this quadrant, in fact. So many of you are genetically 'frail', so to speak." Vuil'SN shrugged. "There were several...setbacks, which eventually required us to completely reset our methods and find other ways to accomplish our goal. The last thirty years have been much more productive, although we are still finding some errors in certain clones – errors which could eventually lead to unacceptable genetic mutations."

  A sudden thought occurred to Erengaar, and he leaned forward, interrupting. "Where did you acquire the genetic material necessary for this project?"

  "Ah, yes," Vuil'SN replied, his tone as smooth as ever. "That is a rather...delicate matter, now isn't
it?"

  "Answer me!" Erengaar thundered, his volume startling Ryomekk.

  Vuil'SN, however, appeared nonplussed. His oily smile returned. "Lord emperor, listen to me carefully. It was necessary for the success of this project that certain...sacrifices needed to be made. The methods that we used to extract DNA from the males and females of your populations had an unfortunate side effect in the females. We're still not sure of the exact nature of the disease, but, rest assured, we are doing everything in our power to find a cure."

  Ryomekk stared at Vuil'SN, astonished. "How did you obtain their DNA without their knowledge?"

  "We have our ways," Vuil'SN replied cryptically. He turned to Erengaar. "I am truly sorry for this, Erengaar. I understand your fury, but, as I said, sacrifices of this nature were required for the success of this second phase."

  "It's not just the poor and the middle class populations that are affected by this disease," Ryomekk pointed out. "Many of the women of noble birth have also been inflicted with barren wombs."

  Vuil'SN gave a slight shrug. "The Ko'Mar insisted that we take samples from all strata of all populations. That meant noble houses as well. That also meant that even the species of the member worlds of your empire were used in this phase." He motioned to the clone patient on the holoscreen. "If you look closely, you'll see that this man is a mixture of Jha'Drok and Inepole DNA." Erengaar continued glaring at Vuil'SN for several moments, and then turned to the holoscreen. The D'Yori waited until the lord emperor's anger had abated. "As of last week, we have ten thousand clones ready for your command."

  "Ten thousand?" Ryomekk smirked. "After a century of cloning, that's all you've got??"

  Vuil'SN smiled coldly. "No, of course not. We have over five hundred thousand clones on the surface of Sarlond. However, only ten thousand are ready for combat. It takes many years to properly train and educate a clone. I assure you, lord emperor, that these are no ordinary soldiers. Allow me to demonstrate." He stood, motioning to the door.