by C H Gideon
Reynolds deactivated his cloak.
Stalker of Vermin reared back on its hind legs at the android’s sudden appearance. Pornath reined in his mount. “You have the Dark Ones’ sorcery!” he exclaimed. Recovering quickly, he demanded, “I thought you said you blasted the tunnel shut?”
“They must have an alternate exit,” Reynolds said. “We’ll post a guard and search for it in the morning.”
Reynolds, Jiya, Maddox said via comm. You aren’t going to believe this. Get rid of Pornath and come over here.
They turned, but Maddox was nowhere to be seen.
On it, Reynolds replied. “Pornath, you can take your warriors back to your camp. We will keep watch for the rest of the night.”
“My thanks, Reynolds,” the chief said, covering a yawn. “Warriors, back to base!” The cats turned and slunk off into the darkness.
Where the hell are you, Maddox? Jiya asked.
I’m here, Maddox said. Something wavered, and Maddox appeared near the spot where Jiya had tripped. Reynolds and Jiya jogged over.
Look who I found, Maddox said. He made a weird jerking movement and revealed a humanoid in familiar armor lying on the ground
“Finnal!”
Chapter Eight
But he’s dead! Jiya said. He doesn’t look dead.
He’s not, Maddox said. He appears to be out cold, but he’s breathing. I checked his armor, and the biometrics look surprisingly good.
Let’s get him into the Pod, Reynolds said. San Roche, land as close as you can.
Was he what tripped me? Jiya asked as they locked the joints of Finnal’s armor and lifted him. How did I miss him?
He was covered by this, Maddox said, waving something. It’s a blanket made of D’rken hair.
Ew, Jiya said. But useful.
They carried their crewmate back to the Pod and laid him inside.
“Geroux is calling from the ship,” San Roche said from the pilot’s seat. “She says Finnal’s biometrics suddenly popped up on her monitoring screen. I told her what happened.”
“I wish we knew what happened,” Reynolds said. “It appears the D’rken brought him back to us. Ask Geroux if it’s safe to waken him.”
“She says to use the stimulant built into the suit. He is suffering from an allergic reaction, and the stimulant will move it out of his system faster. She said to also inject him with the broad-spectrum histamine blocker,” San Roche said over his shoulder. “I’ll watch for more D’rken. I think I can adjust the scans to identify the visual disturbance caused by their camouflage.”
Maddox took the blanket to San Roche. “Here’s a sample of their cloak.”
“It actually is a cloak,” San Roche said in surprise. “And it stinks!”
“Best keep your helmet closed,” Maddox chuckled.
Once the stimulant surged through his system, Finnal muttered and woke. He blinked through his faceplate at the crew. “Sir?” he asked when he caught sight of Reynolds. His head turned from side to side. “Am I back in the Pod?”
“Yes, and we need to know how you got out of the cavern,” Reynolds said. “We thought you were dead.”
Finnal sat up. “The D’rken swarmed over me and paralyzed me like they did Ka’nak. By the way, it’s a transdermal agent. They got me through a joint.” He pointed to his knee. “Somehow, they knew that was a weak point in the armor.”
“It is difficult to protect the joints,” Maddox said. “We need to have Takal look at that.”
“When they got me back to their cavern, they gave me the antidote, but I seem to be allergic to it. I don’t know what all they did, but eventually, they roused me enough to give me a message for Reynolds.” He turned to look at the captain. “They said you shouldn’t believe Pornath. That the surface tribe has been attacking them and stealing from them for generations. They take the D’rken as slaves.”
“That explains why all the servers were so short!” Jiya interrupted. “They are D’rken!”
“But Pornath seemed pleased that we’d sealed them inside,” Maddox said. “Wouldn’t that limit his access to them?”
“He appeared to be pleased,” Reynolds corrected. “You know body language varies between cultures. Maybe he was upset, but it just looked pleased. Or maybe he knew there was another entrance to the caverns, so he didn’t care if we sealed this one.”
“Or maybe he was just pleased we hadn’t taken the D’rken’s side,” Jiya said darkly.
“San Roche, take us up to the ship and get him into a Pod-doc,” Reynolds said. “Then we’ll come back to deal with Pornath.”
“What about Taneral?” Jiya asked.
“We’ll get her when we come back,” Reynolds replied. “She didn’t follow orders, so she’s on her own. She gets to wait.”
After the quick trip to space to drop off the injured and grab a sandwich, Reynolds and his team returned to the surface, but they didn’t go straight to the surface-dwellers’ camp. They went to the cave, and as expected, someone was waiting for them. Reynolds was the only one who talked to the creature before bringing him aboard. Jiya and Maddox nodded in approval.
Two minutes later, San Roche landed the Pod near the nomads’ tents. Reynolds led his crew into the center of the encampment. “Where’s Pornath?” he demanded.
The natives scurried around, and finally, Pornath emerged from one of the tents. “I thought you were going to stay by the cave and protect us? You abandoned us, then come into my home, demanding my presence? This is not the action of an ally!”
Reynolds laughed. “You were obviously worried about being abandoned! You didn’t even set a guard.”
The chief smiled, showing his sharp teeth.
I don’t think that’s a friendly smile, Jiya said.
Different body language, Maddox reminded her.
“The Dark Ones never attack twice in the same night,” the chief said, dismissing the concern. “Now, let’s talk about your Pod.”
“First, let’s talk about your lies,” Reynolds said. “The D’rken have never attacked you. You raid them for supplies and females, not the other way around. Half your tribe are D’rken slaves.”
“Who tells you such lies?” Pornath roared.
“He did,” Reynolds said, jerking his head to his left. Maddox whisked the D’rken cloak away, revealing Grrnherg.
Pornath stared in disbelief. The tiny D’rken chief glared at his adversary through the protective goggles Reynolds had provided. Around the camp, the sound of rushing waves rose as the enslaved D’rken surged forward to greet their chief.
Grrnherg held up a hand and the wave stopped.
Pornath roared, “Attack!”
Jiya blasted the ground in front of Pornath before he took a step. The rest of the surface-dwellers froze. “Say hello to my little friend,” she said.
Reynolds gave an appreciative nod, his eyes on the chief. “Now, we’re going to tell you what will happen here. You will go visit the D’rken, and they will decide your fate. Leadership of your tribe will be turned over to someone who understands how to work with your neighbors rather than raid them. The slaves will be freed, and we will ensure Grrnherg and the D’rken have sufficient capabilities to protect themselves.”
“You can’t do this!” Pornath cried.
Grrnherg pulled out a straw and blew a dart at Pornath. The chief stiffened and fell over, rigid.
“Yes, we can,” Jiya said. “We already have.”
“Blowdarts,” Grrnherg said. “I like your new technology.”
When they returned to the Pod, Taneral was waiting inside with San Roche.
“Where have you been?” Reynolds asked.
Taneral heaved a sigh. “Protecting the cats.”
“You tried to release them, didn’t you?” Jiya asked. “And being cats, they ignored you.”
Taneral shook her head. “They just laid there and purred at me! Stupid cats.”
“They seem pretty content with their lot,” Maddox said. “I suspect they could
escape any time they wanted. It’s hard to free a race that doesn’t believe it’s being oppressed.”
“But the D’rken are free now,” Jiya said in satisfaction. “We did something right.”
“And we got the phorentum to repair our Gate drive,” Reynolds said. “That’s the primary mission.”
Reynolds went from one to the other of his crew and shook their hands. He thought that was expected of the leader. By the looks on their faces, they appreciated it. Even though he was already the smartest being on the Reynolds, he was learning something new every day.
Asya stood and stepped away from the captain’s chair as Reynolds and the crew returned to the bridge. “Success?” Asya asked.
“Not quite as quick or easy as we’d hoped, but we got the phorentum,” Reynolds acknowledged. “Navigation, calculate a course for Reichof Six. Taneral’s people have reported signs of tualinton there.”
“Maybe there will be something to blast, too,” Tactical muttered. The crew ignored him.
“I have coordinates,” Navigation said.
“Ensign Alcott, take us on a quick loop through this system before we leave,” Reynolds said. “Pornath implied he had tualinton, and I don’t want to pass up the chance to grab it from here if it’s available. Maddox, run a scan as we go.”
“Yes, sir,” Maddox replied.
“In-system course plotted,” Ria said.
“Let’s go,” Reynolds said. Then he shook his head, “No, I like ‘Make it so’ better. Or maybe ‘Engage.’ Yeah, that’ll work.”
“Engaging. Warp two.” Ria said with a smirk.
“You should be using impulse power,” Ka’nak said.
“Ludicrous speed?” Tactical offered, receiving more silence for his efforts. “Fine. I see how you all are. If I could just blow something up, maybe a small moon, even if that’s no moon…”
Reynolds looked around the bridge, nodding in satisfaction. “I see you’ve been using your downtime wisely, which brings me to an important point. As you know, our journey back to High Tortuga is going to take some time. If there were Kurtherians to fight along the way, it would be easy. But there aren’t. We will encounter many different races and species on this journey, and our recent adventures with the D’rken have made it clear we won’t always have an obvious side to take. We need to develop a protocol for our visits. A plan for how we interact with the natives.”
“The Prime Directive!” Ria and Ka’nak said in unison.
“A policy of noninterference sounds good until you try to implement it,” XO said. “Too bad canon doesn’t actually define General Order One.”
“We can’t base our real-world policies on a fictional directive,” Reynolds replied. “However, we do need to establish a protocol. We have gone in guns blazing too many times. Bethany Anne would have my head, and my bridge, if we hadn’t gotten it right regarding who the enemy was.”
“I’d suggest we try to do as little direct intervention as possible,” Asya said. “We can’t stay around to provide enforcement, so any changes we make need to be something the locals can support themselves.”
“The Prime Directive,” Ria and Ka’nak said again.
“I don’t know what that means,” Asya said.
“You really need to start on your Earth-culture training,” Ka’nak said. “I’ll send you the recommended viewing list.”
Reynolds held up his hand. “You can watch videos in your free time. Right now, we have a policy to define. I agree with Asya, that we should strive to intervene as little as possible. But the reality is, if we interact with natives, it will change their culture. Maybe only in a tiny way, but there’s no way to avoid impacting them entirely. Any changes need to be sustainable. We don’t want to disturb the greater balance of power, so we provide as little technology as possible to evolving races. No offensive military capabilities. And we leave this galaxy a better place than when we arrived.”
“Smokey the Bear would approve,” Tactical jeered. “But don’t forget, sometimes blowing a crater in something is the best answer.”
“Keep your weapons locked, Tactical. Our new policy is to blow as few craters as possible,” Reynolds told the other personality. “Hey, where’s our guide?”
“Taneral is sulking in her quarters,” Jiya said. “She can’t get over the idea those cats didn’t want to be liberated.”
Maddox shrugged. “Imagine how you’d feel if we came across a species that looked much like us but had the IQ of a house pet. It might be difficult to adjust your thinking.”
“Comm, get our liaison up here,” Reynolds said. “She needs to snap out of it, or we’ll send her home.”
The bridge crew busied themselves with their fly-by of the system. Reynolds drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, an annoying habit he had picked up. Despite his desire to stop, his fingers would inevitably start anew whenever he stopped thinking about them.
The doors opened, and Taneral stalked onto the bridge. “Did you require my assistance, Captain?” she asked.
“We’re ready to depart this system. I’d like you to confer with the ensign and make sure we’re headed in the right direction,” Reynolds said, gesturing to the ensign’s station.
Taneral stepped to Ria Alcott’s side. The two females bent over the screen, comparing notes.
“We’ve finished our sweep of the Lanteral system,” Maddox said. “No tualinton on any of the planets.”
“Then let’s go to Reichof Six,” Reynolds said.
“Places, people,” XO called. “Prepare to Gate.”
“Spooling up the Gate drive,” Ria said. “Coordinates laid in. Taneral confirms the destination.”
“Engage,” Reynolds said.
The Gate opened and the ship slid through, reappearing outside the Oort cloud encircling the Reichof system. Three huge gas giants and an icy asteroid belt lay between the ship and the sixth planet.
“Long-distance scans show energy signatures,” Jiya said. “Reichof Six has artificial satellites and several ships in orbit, but they don’t seem to have noticed us yet. The cloud is probably masking our signature.”
“Do you want to Gate closer?” Ria said. “Our destination coordinates were actually inside the third gas planet’s orbit, but the anomalies with the Gate resulted in a shorter jump than expected.”
“Is this going to happen every time we Gate?” Reynolds asked. “Is it safe to use the system at all while it’s damaged?”
Ria wiggled a hand back and forth. “Takal says the Gate will take us in the correct direction, and we can still make jumps of three to six light-years. However, there is greater margin of error as to our destination. In other words, we might come out up to half a light-year from our expected location.”
“Half a light-year? Let’s not make shorter jumps, then,” Reynolds said. “We could end up even farther away from our destination than we are now. Besides, we may as well collect as much information as possible about the planets in this galaxy.”
“Captain, I’m picking up an odd disturbance,” Maddox said.
“One of the planets?” Reynolds asked.
“No, between us and the outermost planet. Our current course takes us close.”
“Is it a danger to the ship?”
Maddox shook his head. “Shouldn’t be a problem. It just looks…different.”
“Let’s check it out,” Reynolds said.
As the ship cruised closer to the Oort cloud, the disturbance changed. “Captain, that disturbance had transformed into a space storm,” Maddox said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I think we should change course.”
“Ensign Alcott, Gate us out of here. Take us closer to Reichof Six,” Reynolds commanded.
“Yes, sir. The Gate is opening…now,” she said.
“Sir, the storm is coming straight for the Gate!” Maddox said.
“Brace for impact!” XO ordered.
The ship shook as the storm rattled into the Gate. The crew clung to their seats. Flash
es of blue and orange lit up the screens, and the ship shuddered as the artificial gravity fluctuated. The lights went out before returning in emergency red, then changing to normal.
“Report!” Reynolds called.
“Ship is secure,” Jiya said. “No casualties, —unless you count a bruised tailbone. Hull is intact. All systems nominal.”
“Scans show no external threats,” Maddox said.
“That storm interrupted our Gating, though,” Ria said. “We’re approximately two light-years from Reichof.”
“What planet is that?” Reynolds asked, staring at the screen.
“That is Melliferon Three, according to our database,” Taneral announced. “The People have not traveled here, so I have no further data.”
“There’s something odd about that planet,” Reynolds said. “It looks…wrong.”
“I think it’s the shape,” said Jiya. “It’s not really spherical.”
“Most planets aren’t,” Reynolds said.
“No, but this one seems to have edges? It’s almost pixelated.” She turned to Comm. “Is there something wrong with the screen? The resolution is terrible.”
“No,” said Comm, sounding slightly offended. “My resolution is excellent. That is the actual appearance of the planet. Increasing magnification.”
The screen zoomed in, showing the planet in greater detail. It had a thin atmosphere and appeared to be made up of millions of hexagonal shapes. “That looks like a beehive,” Comm said. “Native earth species of the genus Apis, family Apidae. They create honey, which is harvested by humans.”
“A hive?” Tactical snickered. “You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile!”
Reynolds flashed a glare at Tactical.
“Those creatures use cubes, not hexagons,” Ka’nak said.
“It’s a hive,” Tactical said. “We might need to blast our way out of this!” They could hear the glee in his voice.
“Let’s take a closer look, then Gate back to Reichof,” Reynolds said. “Ensign Alcott, plot a course around Melliferon Three. Tactical, look sharp, but no weapons. Keep the shields at full power, and scan for tualinton. You never know what we might find.”
