“Yes Azogas we are the ants. And just like them we hide deep, we move in the shadows, we strike with no warning and our sting hurts. Even a giant bleeds from every wound. And if you inflict enough wounds he will fall down and die. We will work like that. I say that in fifty years we will be strong enough to take them on. And yes I mean that. But until then we will strike them, strike at every turn, and use every chance to inflict damage, to entice a rebellion on worlds they control. We will deliver a million strikes, each one small but deadly before the real war starts. And when it does the empire will feel those stings.”
Azogas shook his head. He was amazed by them. They were clearly afraid and knew that they were outmatched and yet they were ready to fight, even when everything was arranged against them. As a race they were special, there wasn’t much difference between the humans he knew in the mines and the ones on this ship. But while those humans just like him were born as slaves these were free. And that gave them confidence, not arrogance like the dacarians had. He often spoke with Aria, mostly because she loved speaking in his language juts as him, but also because she could tell him about those ancient times.
He wanted to know about the old wars between the Alterans and the dacarians. And as she spoke she too agreed with the way the humans thought.
And she was a being capable of doing billions of calculations and look rationally and logically on every result and data.
She said that in many ways they were like their ancestors, but they had something they lacked. They were noble but they also grew up in a world that didn’t have the guidance of the Icarians.
He read about all the conflicts they had on their own world. Conflicts that were it seemed never ending. When one war was over another one would start.
They were merciless towards their enemies. He knew something about that from the Zerg history as well. The one he managed to glimpse. There wasn’t much. Most of the data he read was about the war. There was little about the culture of his people. But he knew the coordinates and he hoped that one day he will be able to go there. To the worlds his race called home.
But he knew that the slaves his people took were slaves from wars fought on their world even in ancient times.
And he knew that if rebellions that the dacarians would squash in blood but that would make them expend recourses would benefit humanity they would entice them. He was more then sure that Arcadia will be a starting point.
As he was thinking the admiral com link beeped and he spoke with someone.
A moment later he turned.
“Our friend is finally awake. And i think it would be good if she sees u there.”
Azogas nodded.
Alania was the young human girl that came with them. Lugo was dead. She would need someone she knew that could explain what had happened.
He followed the admiral.
She woke slowly, and closed her eyes as the light hit her. She still felt dizzy and week. The last thing she clearly remembered was that the hauler was hit and Lugo trying to protect her as debris was hurled at them. She knew that he was dead. The same piece that stabbed her went trough him first. And then something hit her head and she lost consciousness.
She had dim reflections of strange people talking to her and looking at her but they were just flashes.
She feared to open her eyes in fear of what she would see. If the hauler was boarded and they were taken away then it must have been dacarians or some of their allies. But something was off. There were no chains on her hands or body. And she felt no electric belts that would hold her in place. She wasn’t a prisoner at least on the bed, and the sheets were white and strange. They were like nothing she had seen before.
She heard voices nearby and then steps as someone approached her.
She slowly opened her eyes.
And she gasped.
Above her was a human female. She was young, dressed in a strange uniform. She had back hair and pretty gray eyes. She was scanning her with a strange device and gently touching her on her stomach, chest and head. Te places where she remembered being hurt.
“Who are you?”
Her voice was rasp and her mouthy dry. She wondered how long she was unconscious. There were strange tubes attached to her body. The female checked them and then smiled and put a finger to her mouth indicating to her that she should rest. Then she walked away.
She tried to stand but she felt weak and laid down.
Her body was fragile.
She needed to rest. She closed her eyes and moments later she was sleeping.
Dr. Thompson saw the nurse exit the room where Alania was resting. She took the pad from her and looked at the results.
Everything looked fine. After almost a month of struggle and induced coma she was sure that her last patient will live. It was a hard struggle. She had many injuries the most serious being the ones on her head and chest. They performed several surgeries the first few days and then set her in induced coma allowing her body to heal. It was touch and go the first two weeks but after that she was stable and constantly improving. Now she was finally ready to walk out. At least for a short while once her body was strong enough.
She would still need monitoring. She had a lot to go through before she was fully healthy.
She saw the admiral and Azogas enter.
She smiled. Azogas was another miracle. He came with heavy trauma but they managed to save him, thanks to him self as well. The data he gave them proved invaluable.
She performed a lot of scans o his body from then on. He readily agreed on them. Now she had a full database about his race. She had no doubt that both she and any other doctor would be fully capable of treating any Zerg if they found more. And from what the crew and Azogas were speaking she was sure that there will be. There were thousands of Zerg working in the asteroid mines.
“How is she Helen?”
She looked at Jennings.
“Considering what she’s been through admiral…she’s doing remarkably well. Besides the injuries she suffered she also suffered from malnutrition, dehydration, muscle injuries…she was being worked to death. More then anything that is what made her injuries critical. Her body is weak, very weak.”
Jennings nodded.
“She will get a chance for a new life now.”
Azogas left them and headed towards the chamber where Alania was sleeping.
He saw her and was surprised at how fragile she looked. And yet she was peaceful. That was something he knew she didn’t have in the mines. He never saw her before down there but now he wanted to get to know her. She was a link to the life he had, a life that no matter how terrible it was, was still a part of him.
He felt a touch on his shoulder.
It was Helen.
“I will let you know once she is awake.”
“Thank you doctor…Take care of her.”
“We will.”
She watched as Azogas and Jennings left the room and then she returned to her work.
Jennings and Azogas went to the bridge.
Thomson was waiting for them.
“The drone is at the arranged coordinate’s sir. I took the liberty of giving the order to head back. We leave in ten minutes.”
Jennings nodded.
“Its time to get back in the lions den one more time, and check on the friends we left behind.”
Thompson nodded.
They were all worried about the crew they had on the planet, but they knew that there was nothing they could do for them. They could only hide and observe.
Jennings looked at the calendar. When they were going to be in position it would be only two and a half months until the fleet arrives.
And when they did they would need the information that the Excelsior would gather.
“Give the command Mr. Thomson.”
“Yes sir.”
A moment later Jennings heard him give the command.
The Excelsior accelerated and moments later disappeared from the system.
D
avis watched the rest of his team. Just three of them were here Becket, Ash and Chase, the members of his own team.
The others two teams were on their way to the meeting that was arranged two months ago.
A lot changed since then. They knew what the Americans were doing and they did the same but there were not a lot of rebels here. What little rebel camps were present were easily destroyed by the enemy.
What they had were a lot of dacarian settlements and bases, three huge bases and three space ports. Only one month remained until the fleet arrived and so far they uncovered a lot of information and the last was the most important. It was an ancient tunnel system that connected an old ruined base on this continent with the base that was their real mission.
They managed to acquire a functional fusion device that would power the maglev train. It cost them three wounded but fortunately they were all lucky and the wounds were not life threatening.
Chase and Ash were two of the wounded.
Becket was checking on their dressings now. Ash had a wound on his shoulder and Chase was hit in the back.
Garey was wounded as well but his wound was superficial. He had a nasty cut on his head and a wound to his left arm but he was always a stubborn bastard.
As he was about to speak he heard the whistling signal.
A moment later he answered and eight more soldiers came out of the foliage.
“Welcome back.”
Duke and Danielson nodded.
“There are no patrols any where. It seems that the fighting on the line is drawing most of their forces. There was a small search after we attacked the base but it seems that that the explosions we set that obliterated the base and its surroundings were convincing enough.”
Ash smiled.
“Convincing enough? We caused a two fusion reactors to overload with that C4. We obliterated the base and 30 miles of its surroundings Duke. They gave up because nothing was left.”
“Hell he’s right. We are lucky we are alive. If we set the timers ten minutes earlier we would have been fried.”
Ash nodded to Forest.
Davies looked at Becket.
“Will they be able to move?”
“They are ok. I will have to keep watch and change the dressings but they’ll live. And they’ll have new scars to brag about.”
“Then we move out tonight. Chase and I will take first watch, the rest of you have some chow and the hit the sack.”
The others nodded and then started eating.
As he stood up Davis smiled.
He knew they were lucky.
They suffered no losses so far. From the short contacts they had with the other teams they all knew that seven of their men were dead. And ten were wounded the past few months as all the other teams involved them selves with the rebels and tried to cause as much damage as they could. He knew that now they would concentrate just as him on the crucial part of their mission. To disable the planetary defenses as much as they could so that the fleet has free rain to eliminate the planetary forces even before the army units land.
He cleared the thoughts and concentrated on the mission. He already sent everything they managed to gather both from reconnaissance and from the dacarian soldiers they interrogated to the Excelsior.
Their job on this continent was finished.
It was time to move. And in five hours they would.
As night came they slowly gathered their equipment and moved out.
They moved slowly watching for any sign of being followed. The forest was tall enough and dense enough to hide them but now they were in the open.
They had five miles of open road until they reached the base.
As they came out in the clearing the Draper, Eaton and Cooper the three snipers of his team checked the perimeter.
The others stayed low until they gave the all clear signal.
Then they all moved as fast as they could.
They all wanted to move at a dead run but they were dragging to much equipment. It took them almost an hour to reach the base and the tunnel that was hidden in its center.
As they descended they illuminated the interior with their flashlights. The skeletons they found the first time were still here. From the look of them they all died fighting. There were Illians mostly but there were some who were from other races.
They opened the door and descended the stairs that led to the tunnel.
The train wasn’t big just two wagons each ten meters long. And each filled with equipment and food that they brought earlier. This place served as their base the past two and half months. It was also a treasure throw of information.
“Well it’s time to test Aria’s theory.”
Davis looked at Elliot. He had the generator.
“We all know that she said that she had incomplete information. We’ll probably have to walk part of the way but well be there. And look at the bright side. We wont see any dacarians until we come out on the other side”
“Cheers to that boys.”
They all turned and looked at Ash.
He pulled a bottle of whiskey and poured in a small can. Then he took other cans and poured for all of them.
“You cheating bastard. Where did that come out?”
“Boss you know me. Always ready…”
Davis smiled.
Damn I wonder if the captain knows you stole it from his stash.”
Ash kept smiling. And so did Eaton and Draper.
“Stole…hell boss we took his whole stash. The way we figured, he wont need being on the ship and all.”
Davis smiled.
“By good when we return I wont stop him if he wants to space you.”
Ash exchanged views with Draper.
“You think he’ll do it?”
“Hmm…nah the boss here can’t live without us. And the admiral sure can control his ship so it won’t be a loss if we space the captain.”
“Yeah…to bad all that. He is a good lad. He sure did pack one hell of a good whiskey.”
Ash drank from his can.
“Well cheers for that. So you say we have a whole stash?”
“Sure do boss and it sure came handy let me tell you. This bloody wound hurts like hell and B here is a sadist.”
Becket smiled.
“Drink up Ash. You’ll need it the next time I lay my hands on you.”
Ash made a face.
“The cap here won’t let you B. Prisoner of value I am u know?”
They all smiled.
They emptied their cans and went back to work.
Elliot connected the generator.
For a moment nothing happened but then the train activated. They took the chip that contained Aria and plugged it in.
The AI copy of the real Aria took control of the train fast. Half an hour later after loading all of their equipment they were on their way. They had two and half thousand miles to pass and just one month to do it.
Kobark watched his wife.
Lukhma was furious. And so was he.
They both read the report from the investigation of the mutiny on the asteroid base that in the end resulted in almost a total loss of one fleet.
And they both agreed.
“He says that there was no way for that ore to be triggered without a nuclear or fusion device.
That means we have someone who is a traitor up there. There was no other way for them to create something like that.”
“And yet you say that every device we have is accounted for.”
“Every except the ones the two frigates had. There was nothing left of them.”
He looked at his wife.
“What do you want me to do?”
“I want your permission to send my men to dig deeper. There is something strange going on.”
He watched her for a second and then nodded.
She was right. He was tired. He planned to clear the rebellion but it turned out that the information’s his predecessors had were wrong. He thought that he had a small rebe
llion to squash. It turned out that the rebels were well organized, with resources no one knew they had and they had an ancient ksand fortress. It was surprising and infuriating. He already sent his report about the negligence of his predecessors. But he didn’t share the blame. He was the one responsible for this world and he would be blamed for what happened. The losses were severe.
There were large rebel formations in the jungles. They harassed the legions and their supply lines and smuggled equipment pass the lines in the fortress.
Golan and Marak who took control of the front reported that there were approximately over half a million and maybe even as high as a million rebels in the fortress. They tried to destroy it with orbital bombardment but it failed. It was well protected and shielded.
He knew that the shield will eventually fail but every report he read said that it would take several more weeks.
And then there was this.
If Lukhma was right the danger was even greater.
“You’ll have it, what ever you need. If there is someone supplying them with weapons we need to know.”
She nodded.
“Thank you.”
He stood and embraced her.
As he did she looked at him and then kissed him.
“I have some time.”
He smiled. Then he took her hand and they went in their private quarters.
The next day she returned to her ship and ordered the investigation. She was just few months from deploying to the front. And she wanted to clear everything before she left. She was part of the Al Mach clan. Not by blood but by marriage. It was an honor that was rarely given. Even if the clan was not what it used to be.
She wanted to clear the situation and to protect the honor of the clan and above all the honor of her husband.
She looked at the soldier standing in her cabin. He was old as old as Kobark and he was her own spy. He came with her from her own clan.
He was a soldier but he wasn’t wearing a uniform. He was dressed in a dark colored uniform of an intelligence officer.
“You know why I summoned you Savario.”
“Yes my lady.”
She handed him the file with Kobark‘s and hers signature.
“Turn every rock. I want to know what really happened on that asteroid.”
The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) Page 79
