by Ryan Krauter
He entered his outer office, a huge, several story space reminiscent of the command deck of a Priman mothership. He walked to the raised command dias in the middle, and aides took their places to give him the reports they knew he was expecting.
“We have lost the Carlor System to the Confederation,” began one, jumping right in. He knew his Commander didn’t look kindly on subordinates who tried to sugar coat information. It was better to just get it out and over with.
“The Confederation?” Tash replied in confusion. “That is a Talaran planet, is it not?”
“Yes, Commander. And our intelligence showed no Talaran forces anywhere near the system. The Confederation, for whatever reason, had assembled a large strike fleet to take it from us.”
“Our losses?” Tash asked with a sinking feeling.
“We lost three quarters of the ships in the occupation fleet as well as all the ground forces.”
Tash fumed, but kept it bottled up. The Confederation had no business trying to take Carlor. He had ordered that planet placed on the back burner precisely because the Talarans were powerless to take it back and it was none of Confed’s business. “Anything else?”
“We had several units of the Keepers in-system working on analysis of Talaran technology and culture. We haven’t heard from any of them since the attack.”
This finally made Tash speechless. The Keepers were tasked with analyzing and organizing everything the Primans had or took. To simply lose some of those units was a great loss, but if they had fallen into enemy hands, it could be destructive. With any luck their commanders had seen fit to use their demolition charges on themselves. He took several deep breaths, then faced the aides again with his game face back in place.
“Do you have any good news for me?”
“The Nyjan League has surrendered after our treaty proposal,” another aide offered.
Tash looked at him and gestured for him to continue.
“They are a collection of seven human planets over five planetary systems, just beyond Confederation space coreward. They agree to our administration as well as religious indoctrination and protectorate status. They have mineral resources which we will find very useful.”
Tash nodded approvingly and let the rest of his aides continue. They covered all manner of mundane topics until they came to the status of his Representatives, on assignment as his personal voice in matters of importance.
He relished the news from Representative Velk, who only recently had held Tash’s job of overall Commander of the Priman military. Tash knew that feelings of greed or accomplishment were considered un-Priman, but in his mind Velk didn’t have what it was going to take to finish off the Priman conquest of this galaxy. Tash had joined forces with Representative Terir and a few members of the Council and conspired to have Velk removed from his role of Commander early so Tash could finish the job.
Now, Velk was on assignment, serving once again as Representative to the Commander in Priman tradition. He knew Velk would do his job, despite the fact that he must assume Tash was part of his ouster. One of the main reasons Velk had been removed early was his refusal to deploy the DNA weapon that the Primans had developed, which Tash addressed by ordering the weapon used in his very first order as the new Commander. In addition, Tash had made it so that Velk was the Representative in charge of observing the results of that order. Most likely the DNA weapon was gone forever, for when the Confed team had destroyed the facilities on Callidor as well as further out in the system, they truly had wiped out everything the Primans had to work with.
Still, it was gratifying to watch the Confeds react to the news that the planet Toral was held under a quarantine as well as a death sentence. Plus, making Velk watch over it only drove the matter home how Tash felt about Velk’s non-use of that resource to begin with. Representative Velk, as well as his staff, was splitting their time between logging everything that happened to Toral and overseeing construction of a now, mobile, research facility deep in the Enkarran frontier, a place where experiments like the DNA weapon as well as more traditional tools of battle would be created to deal with the ungrateful denizens of this galaxy who refused to acknowledge that the Primans were their salvation.
Loren sat at a table in the upper level of the Aft Quarter waiting for the rest of his party to arrive. His duties as XO had him leading a different life now, which kept him away from his friends and colleagues in the fighter wing of the ship. They tried, as a result, to meet for a meal a few times a week to keep in touch personally as well as professionally, since as XO it was his decree that gave the fighters their tasking.
He was lost in thought, staring out the two story windows over the aft portion of the ship. He eyed the bulge that contained the four rearward facing torpedo launchers, then the two main laser batteries, and the distorted, somewhat shimmery space outside of the hyperdrive field that enclosed the ship. He was jolted out of his reverie by Web’s tray as it slammed down on the table next to him.
Web sat down by his tray, smiling broadly at Loren. “So, Your Highness,” Web began, “what’s new up on top of the ship today?”
Loren chuckled despite his urge to remain in a foul mood. “We’ve got some Priman prisoners aboard,” Loren replied. “We took a crack at them, and intel’s digging through their equipment right now.”
“Sounds like fun. Do they let guest interrogators in?”
Loren knew better than to think Web was joking. While an exceptional pilot, he was interested in just about everything. Ground tactics, espionage, technology; it all appealed to him.
It was at that moment that Loren felt the buzzing of his comm unit. He reached into his inner uniform jacket and pulled out his datapad, keying the audio-only function.
“XO here,” Loren said.
“Ensign Roxis, Sir,” came the voice.
“Any news?”
“Yes. We’ve dug out a good deal of info about the DNA weapon and operations associated with it. Nothing much in the way of other data, though; it appears the backdoors the prisoner offered worked only on files related to the DNA weapon. He said that was part of your deal.” The Ensign stopped, waiting for Loren to respond.
“That’s right, Ensign. Just the DNA weapon for now.”
“Well, Sir, you might want to come on down here. We haven’t decoded it all, but what we have is new to us.”
“On the way,” Loren said excitedly.
“Just what exactly did you do to that guy?” Web asked admiringly.
“Seriously, you don’t want anything to do with it,” Loren replied flatly.
“So, what am I looking at?” Loren asked Ensign Roxis. Though not the most senior of the intel spooks aboard, he was running point on this operation and was probably the best data analyst onboard. The Drisk man tapped the display on the wall and a slideshow started as a galactic map sprung up to show areas relating to the briefing.
“This unit we have onboard, The Keepers, as they’re called, were traveling all over cataloging everything they could find. They started on Callidor, made a run through Enkarran space, then moved to several captured Confederation worlds, including Toral after the virus was released, then on to the Talaran Collection and Carlor where we caught them.”
“Wow, conquer a galaxy and see the sights while you’re at it, eh?” Loren muttered.
“In any case,” Ensign Roxis continued, “we were able to confirm a large data dump while in Enkarran space. I’ll make the story short- there was a large amount of data about the DNA weapon transferred at that time. We essentially have everything the Primans know about their weapon at this point, which is to say we have the broad strokes, but not specifics. For instance, we know what they have was transferred to a computer core in Enkarran space, as well as most of the rest of the data this ship of Keepers was carting around.”
“So, what do we know about the virus?”
“Well, we know the official gestation period of the contagion. We have twenty days left before it activates and disman
tles the Priman DNA out of every human on Toral. We know the Priman strain of the DNA came from one person, and everything about it was modeled off them. Frankly, I’m no biologist, but based on the information we’ve found, it seems like we need either a live culture of the virus- not one already inhabiting someone- or the person who coughed up this bit of DNA for the weapon. If we had either one, we could identify exactly what the weapon was after and develop an antidote that simply recreated the parts that the weapon was trying to remove.”
“So we can’t just hack open any old Priman we have in captivity?” Loren asked doubtfully.
“No; imagine the DNA relationship. Any human’s DNA is remarkably similar to the next one’s. In the grand scheme of things, hardly anything at all changes. However, there are some huge variances among humanoids, as you can see just by looking around this ship. Now, imagine you examined DNA from two members of the same family. Those strands would be similar enough as to be almost interchangeable. That’s what we need- the DNA of the person who this virus is modeled off of, or a family member.”
“So who’s the lucky guy?” asked Loren.
“We don’t know.” Ensign Roxis looked upbeat, however. “But we do know that everything the Primans have on this weapon, as well as lots of others, is in a computer core somewhere in Enkarran space.”
“So if we have any chance at all, it’s there,” Loren finished for him.
“That’s the long and short of it, Sir,” Loren concluded. He had just finished giving an informal brief to Captain Elco in his cabin over a light supper.
“So we need some serious intel on Enkarran space,” Elco muttered.
“What about those Enkarran ships that they keep threatening to send out to us?” Loren asked. “Can’t we just ask them?”
“They’ve been out of this for as long as we’ve been at war, so I doubt they know anything that we don’t,” Elco replied. “Besides, I just received an updated intel brief a few hours ago containing everything our new Enkarran allies have offered up by way of information. Nothing at all on their own space other than wild speculation. Oh, and be careful what you wish for; we’re due to welcome three Enkarran cruisers in two days.”
Loren almost choked on the stim-caf he was drinking. “Dare I ask if we have IDs on the ships?”
“I know what you’re thinking, and no, I don’t have that info yet. The lack of that sort of information tells me we may not like what we get.”
“Captain, if they send out the Union, we’re going to have a potential problem aboard, starting with me.”
“Well, at least you’re honest, Loren,” Elco chuckled without humor. The Enkarran cruiser Union, helmed by Captain Josias Krent, had dogged Avenger through the first days of the war and been responsible for the death of her former XO, Loren’s friend Delgin Marks. “I can’t say it would be easy, but he was my friend, too. If they send that ship out here, we’ll have to make due, you know that as well as I.”
“I don’t have to like it.”
“No, you don’t. I don’t have to, either, but we have to at least pretend it doesn’t bother us. If it’s any help, I try to tell myself they were simply doing for their people the same thing we do for ours- follow orders and fight the adversary of choice.”
“I try to remember that, as well. I doubt anyone really wants a war, and I try to think about how I would attempt to explain it to them if our roles were reversed and I was joining their fleet after scoring a killing blow on their ship. I guess we’ll see how it goes…”
Senator Dennix, now the head of the newly-established Governing Committee, sat in his office and took it all in. It was after hours, and most of the bureaucrats had gone home for the day. He was awaiting the return of Mr. Shae with some documents that needed to be signed and arrangements he needed to approve.
“Senator,” Shae greeted him as he wound his way around the partially-open office door.
“Mr. Shae,” Dennix returned with a smile.
“I have two last updates for you,” he said as he placed a small glass of wine on the Senator’s desk. Dennix usually took a drink or two at the end of a day with Mr. Shae, a ritual that also allowed them to prepare for the next day’s events.
Dennix nodded at him, so Shae continued. “The Union and her sisters will rendezvous with the Ninth Fleet tomorrow morning, Delos time. In addition, we’ve had a data dump from them and UNODIR request to gather information related to the intel the Ninth acquired.”
“I’m sorry, I’m not up to speed on all the military lingo, Enric.” Dennix said it with a smile, but he would have preferred for Mr. Shae to have no connection to his former alliance with the military.
“UNless Otherwise DIRected,” Shae replied dutifully. “Admiral Bak has some ideas he wants to follow up regarding the DNA virus.”
“And he wants to just go ahead and not bother us with the details?” One thing that Dennix had admittedly neglected was a closer oversight of the military. Well, at least this way, if they succeeded, he could take the credit. If they failed, he didn’t have to take the blame. “Tell him to go ahead with anything short of starting a war with a third party. We are going to be facing down the Talarans soon enough; we don’t need him getting us stuck in something new at this point.”
Dennix paused, lost in thought. “Speaking of that, we need to decide what we’re going use as our reasoning when we tell the population of the Confederation why we’re no longer allies with the Talarans.”
“I suppose the truth is out of the picture,” Shae said with a dark chuckle.
“Yes,” replied Dennix. “Let’s see- expanding Confed by taking a planet that belongs to a former ally, keeping the public focused on something other than the hard changes we need to make to the Confederation, and keeping the military too busy to notice… Yes, this would make for bad headlines. I think we’ll go with taking Carlor as a measure to secure our borders. Be ready with your news leaks about suspected Talaran sympathies for the Primans, as well.”
Loren and Captain Elco were onboard the Sabre class carrier Thunderbird, flagship of Fleet Admiral Privac, who was ultimately in control of the entire Ninth Fleet.
The three sat in a briefing room that was familiar to Elco, for it was here that the sequestered Admiral Nodam Bak had given him the clandestine mission to capture some Priman POWs as quietly as possible a few months back. He wondered if there was something similar in the works now.
Admiral Bak entered and gestured for the two of them to sit, which they did after the Admiral seated himself at the head of the oversized table. True to his style, he had the main lights dimmed, using the desk lamps at their seating positions for illumination.
“Hello again, Captain Elco, XO Stone,” the Admiral began. “It seems like our meetings are always rushed, and for that I apologize, but I’m going to get right down to business.” He touched a spot on the surface of the table in front of him, and a large screen on one of the long walls sprung to life with a graphic of local space.
“We’ve analyzed the data you acquired from the Primans and their equipment, and I’m very impressed. That was done under your direction, Commander Stone, correct?”
Of course he knew that, Loren thought, but he wants to be pals now that he thinks I’m going to join him in taking a leap off the deep end for Confed.
“Correct, Admiral,” Loren replied with an impassive face.
“We’ve gone over your conclusions and I have to agree; our best hope for data on this virus and its’ cure lies in whatever data repository the Primans have stashed away in Enkarran space. The problem is finding it and getting it out, not to mention making it back alive.”
“Yes, the part where we live to celebrate it seems like the most difficult part,” Loren deadpanned.
Bak just grinned. “I’ve been on the line with Senator Dennix, who is now the head of the temporary Governing Committee that is running Confed. Let’s not beat around the bush- it’s the Senator who is in charge right now.
“The problem is
,” he continued, “that we still have no real policy or leadership on Delos. Since you helped rescue the Senator, he’s been busy getting friends and associates elected and appointed to back up his own power base. What he hasn’t done is give us any real direction, limitations, or pledge of support until just now. He just gave me approval for a UNODIR to go after that Priman data repository. While I’m happy to have the leash loosened up, we’re effectively making our own policy, and I fear that one day he’ll try to make an example of someone and rake them over the coals for something they did without his approval. Part of me fears one day he’ll try to get his hands in everything we do, and you can see what happens when he decides to get active in military planning. Take the Enkarrans, for example. Integrating them was the Senator’s idea, you know. And here’s something that won’t hit the general briefings until tomorrow: we’re not giving back Carlor.”
Loren and Elco looked at each other, eyes wide. Carlor was a Talaran planet. Taking it made sense, but they never really considered the possibility of keeping it in Confed hands.
“Was he exposed to some sort of radiation while in captivity on Delos?” Loren asked. Elco cleared his throat, which got his attention. Loren realized he shouldn’t be talking that way, and he also realized that the Admiral venting like that had made Loren feel right at home in doing so as well.
“I’m not sure, Commander,” Bak replied. “But there are valid military reasons for holding onto it for a while, in addition to the fact that the Talarans are in such disarray that it wouldn’t mean anything to tell them it’s theirs anyway. However, I’ve been watching the Senator’s policies, and you’d be surprised in the most unpleasant ways if you saw what measures he’s pushing and read between the lines a little bit. I personally think a lot of his policies are meant to distract the Confed population, to keep them from paying too much attention to what he’s doing on the macro scale. He’s more worried about his image with the populace than with fighting this war the right way.”
