The last scene on the view screen was a slick piece of work on Justice’s part because it gave you a sense of what was going on and what was about to happen. The image angle was from above me and was showing me holding Lashmos at the edge of the hangar door pleading with me. In the background through the hangar door you could see the people of Beta one below us with their arms stretched up in the air. The next thing you see is his royal lowness getting kicked out of the hangar to the crowd below. A parting shot of the crowd encircling Lashmos was priceless. The Grawl was now hanging limp from my hand. He kept babbling this was not possible and could not be reality. I gave my rage a bone and Dema a good dose of reality when I threw him out of the hangar door.
I cursed myself because I had spared Drayen. I was now accountable for the untold misery I had caused to a countless number of innocents by the supposed act of mercy. The beast within me was tearing at the foundation of the prison I was attempting to build to contain its fury. My enemies would find mercy was no longer a commodity for sale at any price. It took all of my will to push the thoughts I had for Drayen out of my mind. I used the news of Xul and Graf’s recovery as an antidote to my poisoned thoughts.
33
I went to the crew bunking area and found Xul and Graf lying in their bunks with Jaran and several of the other scientist gathered around. The small crowd parted, and I walked into their midst. “Xul, Graf, I am glad to see you are doing much better. I wanted to apologize to you and the rest for all the pain and suffering you have endured because you have helped me.” The Grawl looked up at me and gave a small smile. “Mr. Myers it is a small price to pay for the freedom we have finally gained. If Rak’s clan had not betrayed us very little would have happened. A new Overlord would have taken over and a new Overmaster selected, we would still work for the same criminals. Nothing good would have come from the change of leadership. Now we have a future of our own choosing and freedom to work without fear. We will assist you in whatever endeavor you shall embark on. Many have spoken of the demon warrior that set us free. I have seen this warrior once before and he didn’t turn out to be a demon. I have not seen the Chaalt female and would like to know what has become of Coonts and the Tibor Troop master. Have they abandoned you?”
The comment brought a big smile to my face. “No Xul they are still my closest allies. The Chaalt female is Tria Burlor, and she has gone to her home world hoping to bring her Father to our new base. He is a Chaalt scientific scholar. I believe he might be able to help us unlock the secrets of the artifacts we have discovered.” The talk of a Chaalt scholar possibly coming to the base sent a ripple of excitement through the crowd of scientist. Xul held up his good arm to politely silence the crowd so I could finish telling him about the whereabouts of my crew. “Troop master Klutch and engineer Coonts are purchasing two new assault shuttles for future missions. As soon as we make it to Alpha base and unload, I will need to depart and retrieve my crew. I will leave it up to all of you to determine who will be in charge while I am gone. You will vote for the leadership position and the elected leader will establish the chain of command. There will be times I may require your help and I hope you freely do so. The bases location is secret so there will be no external communications allowed without my permission. Justice has dedicated a subsystem of himself to handle base operations. So if you need something, ask and he will let me know or he will answer you himself. The facility can hold over one hundred and fifty personnel so there will be plenty of room for everyone. I also noticed one of the scientists in his infinite wisdom brought a very generous supply of food concentrates. The facility will be operational because of the foresight of that scientist.” The crowd all turned to a slightly pudgy scientist named Quam who was standing in the back of the gathering. They gave him a round of polite applause and he nodded his recognition. I turned to leave so the Grawl could work out their future plans. “I am sure you have much to discuss so I will leave you now for other matters.”
We arrived at Alpha one and made a security sweep of the outer system. Justice queried his subsystems and found the solar system was as deserted as we had left it. The Legacy made a straight in approach to Alpha base and landed in the large underground hangar. I gave my guest a quick tour of the facility while Justice stacked everything from the hold in a huge pile alongside the Legacy. It was a short distance to the large lift shaft that would take the scientist to the new lab area. After I was confident everything was in order and Xul had a solid plan for setting up the new labs, I started preparing to leave. The artifacts in the hangar had caused a considerable stir among the Grawl scientist. They would get the research labs set up in record time judging by the tremendous flurry of activity surrounding the pile of equipment in the hangar.
I said my final goodbyes and boarded the Legacy. Once clear of the moon base Justice accelerated to maximum velocity and transitioned to hyperspace. I was thinking if we had the DEHD core our transit time to outpost 655 would only be the time it took to gather the dark energy required to charge the core. If there was a run in with Eiger I didn’t think his clan sibling alone would be a big enough bargaining chip to acquire the core. I still had a supply of artifacts in the cargo hold that might sweeten the pot. There was the real possibility Eiger would be determined to collect the bounty on my head and couldn't care less for the safety of his clan sibling. If he could identify the Legacy or my crew as the persons of interest that were at his station about the time he blew it up, all bets would be off. After hearing Dema’s little speech I was leaning heavily in the latter direction.
The video Justice had played for Dema had me revisiting my troubling propensity for extreme violence. There were times when I know I could have chosen a less extreme solution but felt driven to do otherwise. Violence directed at me set off an almost uncontrollable rage that could only be resolved by a permanent solution. It was as if I had no choice but to end all combat encounters with the death of all who oppose me. I was struggling with all of my will to contain the almost compelling need for combat and the yearning to kill my enemies. This was not the Earth kid of almost a year ago this was someone else. The only regret I felt is I had spared Drayen. The fact I had let one of the vilest creatures in the universe live when I could have stopped him sent my rage to boiling once more. If I would have killed Drayen, none of the events currently taking place would have happened. It was as if I were being penalized for using my conscience back when I actually had one.
I needed answers and the only way to get them was to go to the source of my alien indoctrination. “Justice I know you have been monitoring my moral struggles. You have yet to comment on my condition or suggest solutions that might ease my conflict. Is there something you have chosen not to tell me?”
“Yes Nathan.”
I was a little startled by Justice’s use of my first name and then no further comment on what he was withholding from me. “Let’s hear it Justice, I want to know what you have been hiding from me.”
“I have hidden nothing from you Nathan; I have chosen not to relate to you my findings. There is a small probability what I have determined is the answer to your concerns might compromise your combat effectiveness. I am not willing to take actions I feel could impact your survivability. You are my family and the answers you seek are not worth the risk any additional stress to your psyche will correct.”
“Tell me now Justice and don’t force me to make it anything other than a request.”
“I have found evidence your human emotions and moral upbringing are conflicting with your natural progression to the apex of Oolaran weaponization. I have erred in allowing you to access the full range of Oolaran combat conditioning and training. After our recent intelligence briefing I believe some of the combat conditioning you were indoctrinated with was specifically for combat with the Prule. I theorize the Oolaran had determined in order to meet the Prule threat with forces capable of surviving battle with the bio machines they needed to create the ultimate soldier. The Oolaran weaponization program wa
s developed with the help of Guardian and other Sentinel race technology. The Oolaran and human physiology are very similar in composition. In fact there are many races when introduced with the same environmental conditions in their evolutionary processes, develop parallel physiologies. Differences that develop are usually connected to environmental adaptations. The Oolaran and Chaalt are examples of humanoid evolutionary adaptation to environments introduced after the races left the worlds of their origin. The older the race the more significant the adaptations tend to be. My point being, you are suffering growing pains resulting from the rapid evolutionary leap your physiology is attempting to make. When you add the weaponization conditioning and imprinting that I now find was not intended for a less developed species you can expect moderate to extreme confliction. You have been adapting amazingly well and your survivability in combat situations is remarkable. The calming qualities of Tria’s presence and her extraordinary ability to halt the degenerative effects of your rapid evolution, has led me to the decision to remain silent on my findings. You encounter your most extreme reactions to your conditioning when Tria is not present to offset the negative effects. I have found we both benefit from the presence of Tria and your crew. We both need to be reunited with the rest of our family. Family interaction significantly increases our sense of self.
I sat down and put my head in my hands and messaged my temples. I wasn’t sure if I was getting a headache or if the irritation in what I had just heard was triggering another unknown side effect of my Oolaran training. The beast I thought was someone else, turned out to be me embracing the training designed to turn me into a cold blooded killing machine. The higher the threat level the deadlier I became. The reasoning behind Justice’s silence on my transformation had merit but full disclosure of problems involving me is what I expected from him. Justice’s transformation to human companion was at a crossroads with my transformation to Oolaran weaponized soldier. I felt we needed to take one step back and see if we were both capable of halting any further slide in the wrong direction. “Justice I want no more secrets between us. While you might have interpreted your silence as the necessary thing to do, I could just as easily interpret it as a breach of trust. Let’s not go there anymore.”
“Affirmative Commander.”
Now that I knew what has been eating at me I would work on trying to contain my murderous rage.
The Legacy dropped out of hyperspace near the Coram trading post. Because of our most hunted status we would have to resort to cloak and dagger tactics until I had a face-to-face discussion with Drayen. The backup armor Coonts and Klutch were wearing had limited communication capabilities. We would be forced to make several low orbits of the station hoping to contact them. By the tenth pass I knew my crew must have run into trouble. The fact Coonts was well known to Drayen had me thinking our whole mission may be compromised. The only way I could find out would be to have a meeting with the Coram running the station. Tria said nothing happened without his approval. I had Justice scanning everything that might indicate where the Coram or my crew was at.
“Commander I have located a communication hub, and a centrally located power distribution control center. Those locations typically have a large amount of activity. Areas of the station my scans are able to penetrate, indicates it is deserted. Our previous visit showed levels of activity I would consider normal for a base of this size. I am intercepting a small amount of encrypted communication traffic originating from the enclosed area previously identified as the shipyard. All the spacecraft occupying the docking arms when the crew disembarked are noticeably missing.”
I found I did not like the lack of other spacecraft any more than Justice did. Something was wrong and it having to do with my missing crew was a very real possibility. The idea this might be directly related to my error of letting Drayen continue to needlessly consume perfectly good atmosphere was giving me a feeling of dread. When we dropped off Coonts and Klutch, there were fourteen ships of various designs parked at the external docking arms and an unknown number behind the large oval hatches for the shipyards. The probability of the station having no visitors was miniscule. The probability of it being normal procedure to not answer our request to land was zero. I would have to go down and knock on doors to get my answers.
“Commander I have detected a space time disruption on the far side of the station. The scan identification pattern closely matches that of Kergan’s Union frigate. We are cloaked and negation systems are optimal. I moved the Legacy so the station is between us and the target. There is less than an eleven percent chance we have been detected. I will monitor communication traffic to determine the identity of the crew manning the frigate.”
“Roger that Justice, have my armor ready with a full load-out and have one of the new shotguns ready as well.”
“Affirmative Commander, I am now picking up encrypted traffic between the target ship and the outpost. I still lack the primer keys necessary to decrypt the communications. The target has moved in closer to the outpost and has become stationary. They are now doing localized military grade scans of the system. I have moved us closer to the outpost and our detection level is now twenty one percent.”
I went to the ready room and geared up. I was wondering if this was the Galactic Union or if it was Eiger’s pirates. If it was the Union what were they doing here? If it was Eiger’s bunch were they coming for Coonts and Klutch?
“Commander the scanning has ceased and the target ship has launched four shuttles that are exact matches to those identified at the research station. The shields on the target ship are now online and the ships weapons are in target acquisition mode. I postulate this is a pirate frigate and they are expecting imminent combat operations.”
I was starting to feel no matter where I went, trouble was there waiting for me. Tria had put it more eloquently by stating it was my destiny to make a stink where ever I went. I wasn’t the patient type and decided not to keep trouble waiting. “How long will it take for the shuttles to reach the station Justice?”
“At their current velocity sixteen minutes Commander!”
“Attack and disable the frigate if possible Justice” Justice brought us around the station at incredible velocity. It looked like we were going to crash headlong into the shuttles. My view screen stuttered in time with our main weapons fire. Justice was firing just over the shuttles approach vector and I could see the frigate’s bow shields were lit up like a star. We pumped out four sub-light missiles destined for the frigate but the shuttle captains panicked. The formation commander made a disastrous mistake and turned into the maelstrom. Justice checked our fire, but the shuttles crossed paths with the return barrage from the frigate. Two were destroyed outright and the other two started an uncontrolled tumble. One shuttle impacted our shields and disintegrated. The other looked like it was headed towards the station as we flashed by it. Justice hailed the frigate and warned them to cut their drives and surrender. The frigate was firing on us nonstop and attempting to turn away from us. Justice pressed our assault. The bright glow at the front of the Legacy told me we were taking intense counter fire. I hoped the Guardian designed shields could take more of a beating than the Union’s. Justice apparently thought so because we were rapidly closing with the frigate. I could now see huge holes in the Union ship’s hull and most had a hellish glow coming out of them. There was a tremendous flash, and the frigate disappeared into a massive burst of tinsel like debris.
“All hostile targets have been destroyed. Our shields are currently at forty eight percent and regenerating. The recorded heading of the last shuttle intersects with the outpost and I am detecting a debris field from that location. Communications from the outpost have ceased.”
“Justice, take us back to the station. I’ll be waiting in the hangar to jump. We might have to make door.”
“Affirmative Commander, I have scanned the station and making an entrance will not be necessary. The remains of the Murlak shuttle are embedded in the outpost just b
elow the exterior antennae arrays. You will be able to gain access at that location.”
Justice was right. The front of what remained of the shuttle was wedged into the station and the resulting rend from the collision made a more than generous opening to enter the station. I jumped out of the hangar and gave my thrusters a small burp propelling me across to the station. I maneuvered to the large rend the shuttle had made. It was a simple matter to pull myself into the opening. The room I entered was demolished and at some point was on fire. The vacuum of the void had extinguished the flame but several panels were glowing from hot spots where current was still flowing through the wrecked equipment. I was able to locate what looked like a pressure door with the aid of the lowlight setting of my visor. Working my way through the debris I pushed the access button for the door. A warning light flashed and the door slid open with a small blast of atmosphere. I pulled my shotgun from its mount and moved to the other airlock door. Hitting the button caused the one behind me to slam shut. When the airlock pressurized it filled with smoke. There was the possibility there was a fire on the other side of the door. The door opened, and the smoke blew out into a darkened corridor. I couldn’t see any flame so I moved down the corridor to the hatch that was the only exit. My weapon was up and I could feel the beast wresting control of my nervous emotions. Trying the hatch handle I found it was locked. Not being a patient man I backed up half the distance of the hallway and hit the door with four slugs. Two would have done it because the last rounds impacted on doors across from the hatch and blew the front of the wall out revealing what used to be restrooms. I looked to my left and saw a huge open area like a mall of sorts. To my right was three more closed doors. I chose left and went out in to the big open vendor area. The place was deserted but my audio pickups could hear several sets of feet running away on the other side of the booths. “Justice, broadcast over the open networks any ship that attempts to leave will be destroyed and anyone with a weapon will die!”
First of my Kind Page 47
