Tass scowled.
“Traveling, you mean you are a prisoner?”
“No,” Saskill replied.
“I am working with them.”
Tass burst out laughing.
“Shengyet working with humans,” he roared.
“You do have a sense of humor Chief Saskill.”
“I do not jest,” said Saskill.
Tass's laughter vanished as abruptly as it had come.
“You would work for them?” He asked in a dangerous voice.
“Not for them, with them,” Saskill countered.
Tass gave a derisive snort.
“I do not care for the lies you use to ease your conscience, traitor.”
“No, I can prove it to you,” Saskill assured him.
Tass laughed again.
“I sincerely doubt that,” he scoffed.
Saskill looked up at one of the cameras covering the hangar bay.
“Anna, John,” he called in shengyet.
“Can you join me please?”
Anna looked up from the view screen at the others gathered on the bridge.
“I wouldn't advise that Commander,” said Graham.
“Convincing them to leave peacefully is our best option,” she explained.
“I'm not sure you'll be able to do that,” Graham warned.
“The alternative is fighting them and we're not exactly in the best shape to do that,” Anna countered.
She flicked on the com.
“John, meet me by the door to the hangar bay.”
Tass and his men looked up as the hanger bay door opened. Anna and John stepped into the bay and walked towards them. The shengyet brought up their rifles as they approached. Saskill stepped between them.
“Please,” he said.
“They mean you no harm.”
Tass eyed them wearily.
“You should listen to him,” Anna spoke in shengyet.
“Yes,” added John.
“We really do mean you no harm.”
Tass stared at them for a moment.
“I have never met a human who spoke shengyet before,” he said.
“As far as I know we are the only two,” Anna replied.
“How?” Tass demanded.
“Our father taught us,” said John, glancing at Saskill.
“Father?”
“Adopted father,” Anna explained.
Tass looked from Saskill to Anna to John.
“You would adopt two humans?” He asked incredulously.
“They were only children when we found them,” Saskill explained.
“Their parents were dead, they had no one.”
“I see,” said Tass slowly.
He glanced at Anna's uniform.
“You are an officer in the Imperial Navy,” he said.
“Yes, a Commander, this is my ship.”
“And your superiors and crew have no problem with your adopted father?”
“Until recently, my superiors didn't know anything about it,” said Anna.
“We,” she hesitated.
“I'm on a classified mission under extraordinary circumstances,” she said finally.
“My father and brother being aboard this ship wasn't part of the initial plan, but recent events brought us together.”
“They must be some very extraordinary circumstances,” said Tass.
“You have no idea,” John chimed in.
The old shengyet regarded them for a moment, then he asked.
“I presume it was you who set off one of our booby trapped mining capsules?”
Anna nodded.
“Our ship was damaged and the capsule contained parts we could use to fix it.”
“I see, were any of your crew hurt?”
“Yes,” replied John.
“But he's going to be fine.”
One of the other shengyet shifted uneasily.
“Chief,” he said angrily.
“We shouldn't be standing here talking to them. This is a human ship, we should just take it.”
Tass turned slowly to face his man.
“That look like a human to you?” He asked pointing at Saskill.
“He's a traitor, you can't trust him.”
“I decide who I can or can't trust,” growled Tass.
“And you will remember who is in charge here.”
“I can't believe I'm hearing this!” Snapped the other shengyet, taking a step towards him.
Tass didn't budge, he simply glared at him.
“You've got something you want to say Frill?” He asked.
“Yeah, I do you-”
His sentence was cut short as Tass punched him squarely in the jaw. Frill toppled over backwards and crumpled in heap. The old shengyet glared at the unconscious Frill, then turned to the rest of his men.
“Pick that up,” he said.
“And get back aboard the fighters, we're leaving.”
Two of his men picked up their comrade as they made their way back to the fighters.
Tass turned back to Saskill.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“Frill's always been an insolent little runt. Then again, so are the rest of them.”
“Thank you,” said Saskill.
Tass grunted.
“Never thought I'd see the day I let a human ship go. Ah, just as well,” he added, glancing up at the damaged hangar ceiling.
“This piece of junk isn't worth stealing.”
“She normally looks a lot better,” Anna assured him.
Tass cocked his head.
“I'll have to take your word for it. Now if you will excuse me, I have to make sure those idiots don't accidentally blow themselves up.”
He turned to his men who were trying to stuff the unconscious Frill through a fighter's side hatch.
“Hey! You demented Abanus even got a brain between the five of you?!”
Chapter 53
The crew of the Twilight were all gathered on the bridge, save for Nolan and John, who were still in the engine room.
“Coming up on Sol system in five seconds,” Aziz announced.
“Three, two, one.”
The Twilight drifted out of the vortex that had appeared at the edge of the system.
“Link up with the Imperial com net,” said Major Clark.
“I need to talk to Admiral Constantine right away.”
“Aye, connecting now,” said Anna.
“Link established.”
The main view switched to show Admiral Constantine's face.
“Clark, you made it in one piece I see,” he said with a smile.
“Not quite Admiral,” replied Clark.
“What do you mean?”
The Admiral's smile vanished as Clark recounted the story of what had transpired in the Borealis system.
“Jones did what?!” Constantine thundered.
“He deployed Ragnarok,” Clark repeated.
“Admiral,” she went on in a quiet voice.
“It, it destroyed everything sir.”
“What, the shipyard too?” Asked Constantine.
“Not just the shipyard Admiral, the whole system, including the star, it’s all gone.”
Admiral Constantine let out a long string of profanity before he seemed to get a hold of himself.
“Sorry about that,” he said, taking a deep breath.
“I don't blame you Admiral,” Clark assured him.
“Okay,” Constantine sighed.
“This makes everything a lot more complicated, but we'll deal with all that later. First, you need to get back to Earth.”
“Any place in particular?” Asked Clark.
“Yes, I'll send you the coordinates,” replied Constantine.
“Oh and speaking of which, is the shengyet chieftain there?” He asked.
“Yes,” said Saskill, stepping into view.
“I should tell you that your Clan is waiting for you at that location.”
“What?!” Saskill
and Anna said in unison.
Constantine held up his hands.
“Don't worry, they're safe and only my people know they're here.”
“Why, how did they get to Earth?” Saskill asked incredulously.
“It's a long story that we don't have time to go into right now. I'm sure they'll fill you in on the details when you get there,” the Admiral assured him.
“I've given the Twilight priority landing status,” he added.
“We'll get there as fast as possible,” Clark assured him.
Constantine nodded and the connection went dead.
“Aziz,” said Anna.
“Commander.”
“Lay in a course for Earth orbit, maximum speed.”
“Aye Commander,” Aziz replied, typing in commands.
“ETA five hours, twenty two minutes.”
Anna flicked on the ship-wide com.
“Okay people, we're almost done. Nolan, keep an eye on the reactor, just in case. Everyone else, get started on those non-critical systems that need repair.”
Everyone except Aziz left the bridge, spreading throughout the ship. Anna, Saskill and John went to the hangar bay. Anna had Nolan deactivate the artificial gravity in the bay and she now floated under the scar that ran along most of the bay's ceiling. John floated next to her, taking readings with a diagnostics pad. They were at the far end, near the hangar bay door. Saskill was floating on the other side with another pad.
“So are we going to talk about what happens when we get to Earth?” John asked, scrutinizing the data on his pad.
“You mean with the Clan?” Anna asked.
John looked from her to Saskill.
“Yes the Clan, look I kind of trust Major Clark. I mean if she'd wanted to screw us over she'd have done it by now, but Admiral Constantine?”
Saskill scratched his chin.
“I know what you mean son,” he said.
“Although I'm not too worried about the Admiral. He must have taken a big risk bringing the Clan to Earth in first place. It doesn't make sense for him to do that, if all he wanted was to imprison or harm them in some way. No what concerns me, is what happens when someone else finds out about this.”
Anna nodded.
“Yeah, I've been thinking about that too. As the head of the military, Constantine has a lot of power and he can probably keep this secret for a while. But you're right, the longer they stay there, the greater the chance someone will find out. Constantine answers to the Senate and I imagine their reaction to this would be most severe.”
At that moment, the hangar bay door ship slid open and Sergeant Williams stepped through it.
“Thought I'd try giving you a hand with this,” he said, looking up at them.
“Seeing as how I caused it,” he added, pushing himself off the floor.
“Are you well enough to be doing this?” Anna asked.
“I'll be all right,” Andrew assured her.
“We'll see about that,” said Anna skeptically.
“John?”
“Oh come on,” Andrew protested, as John pulled out a medical nanite scanner.
“It's either that, or you spend the rest of the trip confined to quarters Sergeant,” Anna said sternly.
Andrew sighed and glided towards John, who activated the scanner and ran it over him.
“Okay,” said John, examining the data.
“Looks good for now, but I'm going to keep this linked to your medical nanites Sergeant and the second I see anything wrong.”
“I'll go lie down,” Andrew promised, now pulling himself along to another part of the damaged ceiling.
“You know what you're going?” Anna asked.
“Sure, as a matter of fact, I can give you a lot more information about the damage than those pads.”
“Based on your intimate knowledge of the event that caused it?” John asked sarcastically.
“That too,” Andrew said with a wry smile.
“He's talking about his super senses,” Anna explained.
“Apparently Invictus Legion soldiers are like walking, talking sensor arrays.”
Andrew saluted.
“Sensor array Williams, at your service Commander.”
“Just shut up and tell how badly you damaged my ship,” Anna replied dryly.
The four of them set to work, soon a small collection of damaged components, wires and tubing were floating around them.
“Hang on,” said Andrew.
“That power conduit.”
“What about it?” Asked John, trying to maneuver it back into place.
“There's a minor rupture further up.”
“You sure?” Asked Saskill.
Andrew nodded.
“I just saw the electromagnet fluctuation when you put that test pulse through it.”
John sighed.
“Someone's going to have to go to the deck above and access it from there,” said Andrew.
He concentrated for a second.
“And there's a connector that branches off to another conduit. The rupture caused a power surge that fried it. We're going to need Chief Nolan to fabricate us another one.”
“I'll head to the deck above,” said John.
“I will go see Nolan about that connector,” added Saskill.
“All right,” said Anna
“The Sergeant and I can keep going here.”
Saskill and John pushed off and drifted back towards the door. When they had left, Andrew turned to Anna.
“I need to talk to you about something Commander.”
“What is it?” Anna asked, fiddling with a mess of wires.
“About what you plan to do when this is over.”
“When this is over?”
“Yes,” said Andrew.
“When we get back to Earth.”
Anna let go of the wires she'd been wrestling with and turned to face him.
“I haven't really thought about it.”
“Don't resign your commission,” said Andrew.
“What?”
“Come on Commander,” he pressed.
“We both know you've been thinking about it.”
“I.”
Anna hesitated.
“Look,” she said, bracing her hand against the ceiling.
“You know my history Sergeant, I don't belong here.”
“Yes you do,” Andrew assured her.
“The Imperial Navy needs people like you.”
Anna let out a derisive snort.
“Yeah right, I'm the poster girl for Imperial officers.”
“That's exactly why you should stay,” he argued.
“Do you have any idea what it was like for me growing up?!” Anna demanded.
“Do you know the things I've seen the Empire do to the people I consider my family? How can I be part of that?”
Andrew regarded her for a moment, then he said quietly.
“You can be a part of it, the same way Major Clark is, or Admiral Constantine. They may be in the minority, but they are not alone. With enough people like that, you could change the Empire and make life better for everyone, including the shengyet.”
“You really think that's possible?” Anna asked skeptically.
Andrew shrugged.
“I have no idea,” he admitted.
“It's certainly possible that you'd just be wasting your time. But this way, you at least have a chance.”
“Why is this so important to you?” Anna wanted to know.
Andrew hesitated, as if struggling with a decision, then the words came tumbling out of him.
“I've spent my entire life serving the Imperial military. I've seen the cost of my superiors’ arrogance and contempt for life. The suffering it caused, the wasted lives.”
He paused, looking down at his hands.
“I even let them alter my body, my mind. All for arrogant, power hungry bastards like Jones. Or for greedy, corrupt politicians who can't see past their own credit accounts.”
“People like you and Clark and Admiral Constantine, you actually make me proud to be here. Like maybe all those sacrifices will mean something in the end.”
Anna didn't know quite what to say to that.
“I'll think about it Sergeant,” she said finally.
Before Andrew could reply, Anna's com beeped.
“Anna, it's John. I'm on the deck above you and I've exposed the damaged conduit.”
“Okay,” said Anna.
“Slap a nanite repair patch over it and then find that damaged connector.”
“Will do.”
Anna glanced over at Williams, who was now attaching a power conduit tester for another test pulse. She was touched, not to mention surprised, that he held her in such high esteem. But staying in the Imperial Navy? Before all this, she would have thought his suggestion that she might be able to change things ludicrous. But now, now that she knew there were people like Major Clark and Constantine. That there were people like Williams, who were willing to follow them, it was something to consider.
Chapter 54
The Twilight streaked through Earth's atmosphere. The bridge's main view screen showed the terrain below them flying by. They were over a forest now, interspersed with small lakes. John stood next to Anna, his eyes glued to the screen. Anna recalled her first trip to Earth. She'd just made Lieutenant and been transferred to the Imperial Intelligence division of the Navy. Her orders were to report to Imperial Intelligence headquarters here on Earth. She remembered the rush of mixed emotions at seeing humanity's home world for the first time. Anna imagined her brother was experiencing much the same right now.
The forest began to clear, replaced by large open grassland. Up ahead, they could make out the enormous spires of the Imperial Capital. The Twilight banked left, heading for the outskirts of the city. Soon a military compound came into view.
“Here we go,” said Aziz.
“Everyone prepare for landing.”
The ship slowed, hovering over an open area in between the buildings. Off to one side they could see a large bessra cargo transport. It stood next to a partially demolished building, it was obvious the ship had smashed into it. The Twilight lowered its landing gear and with a clang, the ship touched down.
Everyone aboard made their way to the rear cargo hatch, Major Clark in the lead. She keyed in the door release and they filed out. A man in an Admiral's uniform stood waiting for them. Clark and rest of the Twilight's crew stood to attention and saluted.
Imperium: Contact Page 41
