by Ken Lozito
"We cannot go back to Nerva," Cardaleer said, drawing the attention of both Hicks and Zack.
"Why not?" Hicks asked.
"Because we need to be here on the fringe of it all if we're to have any hope of defeating the Xiiginns."
"Do you have any ideas on how we can do that?" Zack asked.
Cardaleer walked around the bridge while keeping his head low so it wouldn't hit the ceiling. "We spent many cycles trying to combat the Xiiginns and their stranglehold on the entire Confederation, and we have nothing to show for it. Facing the Xiiginns as we've done before will not win this war."
"So you don't have any ideas then," Zack said and pointedly did not look at Hicks. He could feel Hicks gearing up to go on a tirade of epic proportions. If they returned to Nerva now, the Alliance would tear the Athena apart, looking to gain any edge they could use against the Xiiginns. Zack couldn't let that happen. There must be another way—one where they didn't have to sacrifice the Athena.
"I have lots of ideas, just like you do," Cardaleer said. "I recognize a kindred spirit when I see one. Look at you," he said and gestured toward Zack. "Your thoughts are scattering to oblivion trying to think of a way to defeat the Xiiginns, as if it was something you could force from your brain." He then looked at Hicks. "And you're a warrior who hasn't been able to engage the enemy as he would like to. I can see it gnawing away at you. It does the same to me, but spending many cycles in Haven on Sethion tends to teach one what it is to wait and endure." Cardaleer glided his thick fingertips along the ceiling as if taking its measure. "The Drar remade this ship?"
Zack saw Hicks glance at him, looking slightly annoyed. "Yes, when we found their space station."
Cardaleer's eyes widened and he gave them his full attention. "What was it like to stand among the ancients—beings who were able to control all the mysteries in the great expanse? You were closer to them than we ever were, no matter what we found when we were exploring the galaxy. I miss that . . . But I want you to tell me about the Drar space station."
Zack glanced at Hicks, who jutted his chin up once as a way to tell him to go ahead. Hicks crossed his arms and leaned against the conference table.
Zack cleared his throat, feeling thirsty. "I don't think the Drar actually lived there. We didn't find any trace of them. The station looked as if it had been prepared for them, but they never arrived."
Cardaleer knelt on the floor and then sat down. A soft groan escaped the old Boxan, and he nodded for Zack to continue.
"Do you need anything? I could use a drink and maybe some food. Do you want some?" Zack asked.
Cardaleer's great shaggy head angled to the side while he considered it. "I could use some refreshment."
"Don't get up," Hicks said. "You guys keep talking. I'll go grab something from the kitchen."
Zack thanked him and turned back to Cardaleer. He sat down in one of the chairs.
"You were saying about the station," Cardaleer said.
Zack sucked in a deep breath. How long ago had it been? He couldn't think of how much time had passed. They'd been so worried that the Athena was going to fall apart. "The station was like a brand-new city that hadn't been lived in. It must have been out there for tens of thousands of years. The shield protecting it was constricting and destroying the buildings the Drar AI had built."
"How did you find it?" Cardaleer asked.
"That's a long story," Zack replied, and Cardaleer arched an eyebrow. "We found evidence collected by one of your asteroid bases. The Xiiginns were hunting us and found us there."
"The Xiiginns found you, you say?" Cardaleer said in a pensive tone.
"Yeah, um, one of the crew had been affected by the Xiiginn influence. We didn't know it at the time," Zack replied.
"One never does until it’s too late, even among my species. The member of your crew who was afflicted with the Xiiginn influence—did you kill him?"
"No, we didn't kill him," Zack said briskly, remembering Jonah Redford. His arms had been covered in burns from modifying the Boxans' communication array in order to signal the Xiiginns. "We tried to help him."
"You must realize that anyone under the Xiiginn influence is beyond saving. They cannot be cured," Cardaleer said.
"Kladomaor said the same thing, but we didn't murder Jonah. We studied him and tried to figure out a way to heal him. Jonah fought it, and resisting it damaged his brain. I don't know why he was affected, but I …" Zack stopped speaking.
Cardaleer looked at him sharply. "What do you mean? Were you under the Xiiginn influence?" The Boxan's glare seemed to contain years of pent-up rage and frustration.
"No," Zack said. "They tried, when I was their prisoner, but it didn't work on me."
Cardaleer frowned. "Didn't work on you? How are you immune to the Xiiginn influence?"
Because of my love for Kaylan, Zack thought. At least, that was what Brenda and Emma believed, that his love for Kaylan had shielded him from the Xiiginn influence. "It's complicated," Zack said.
"Kladomaor wouldn't have allowed you access to their systems if he suspected that you were afflicted. Very well, continue," Cardaleer said.
"After we escaped the Xiiginns, we decided to help Kladomaor find where the Drar signal was coming from," Zack said with a frown. "The signal was one of the things detected. We were in the Qegi star system."
"The Qegi," Cardaleer said and nodded. "A clever species. They were excellent at manufacturing impressive alloys that were very useful in shipbuilding. They were among the first species the Xiiginns exploited, which is very unfortunate because they would have been a valuable addition to the Confederation." The Boxan sighed. "Alright, go on."
"Right," Zack said. "We were following the signal when something reached out to Kaylan through Mardoxian means. We almost died . . ." Zack shook his head, remembering how the wormhole had become unstable. "Something—the Drar AI, we think—destabilized the wormhole. It wanted to separate us from . . . uh, well, you—Kladomaor, Ma'jasalax—and other Boxans."
"Indeed. That’s interesting. Please continue," Cardaleer said.
Zack shook his head. "I don't see how this is going to help."
"It helps me understand what happened to you and this ship, so that's how it helps."
Zack glanced at the door to the bridge and wondered when Hicks would return with the food. He blew out a breath and continued. "Once we were past the shield, the Drar AI took control of the ship and guided us in. The AI brought us to a docking platform and we left the ship to explore the space station."
Cardaleer pressed his lips together. "What about the crewmember who was under the Xiiginn influence?"
"Jonah," Zack confirmed.
"Yes, you left him aboard your ship, unguarded?"
Zack shook his head. "No, he came with us."
"How? I thought you said the Xiiginn influence had damaged his brain."
"Oh . . . well, Jonah became lucid when we passed through the shield. I was on the bridge and didn't know it at the time, but Brenda was monitoring him in the med bay," Zack said.
Cardaleer leaned forward. "Lucid. Were the effects completely negated?"
"Not exactly. The damage was still there, but he somehow came out of it. Something the Drar AI did to him," Zack said.
Cardaleer looked away for a moment, pressing his lips together. A soft groan rumbled from deep in his massive chest. He turned back toward Zack.
"I had the same idea as you. The Drar packed a bunch of their knowledge into this ship, and Athena and I tried to figure out what they’d done to alleviate Jonah's symptoms. There isn't anything there," Zack said.
"He wasn't cured?"
"No, he said he was going to die," Zack said, remembering how Jonah had stayed behind. "The AI had figured out that the Drar were never going to come. It wanted to stop waiting for them, but it couldn't self-terminate. Jonah volunteered to stay behind. He merged with the AI and was able to do what the AI couldn't do."
Cardaleer's eyes widened. "Amazing. I wish
I could have been there."
Zack's eyebrows pulled together. "It's not like it sounds. It was scary. The space station was falling apart. The Drar AI remade our ship, including our AI, and her capabilities continue to evolve, but I've tried for months to figure out how the Drar AI was able to temporarily cure Jonah. I haven’t been able to find out how it was done."
"Perhaps you didn't know the correct questions to ask," Cardaleer said.
"You think—” Zack had begun to say when Hicks walked onto the bridge carrying a container of food.
Hicks arched an eyebrow. "What happened?"
Zack turned toward Cardaleer. "Can you do it?"
"I might know the right questions to ask to unlock the knowledge you seek," Cardaleer answered.
Zack jumped to his feet. "Yes!" he shouted, pumping his fist into the air.
"Great. I'm happy you're excited. Now, would either of you like to tell me what's going on?" Hicks asked.
Chapter Seventeen
After the Athena jumped away, Kladomaor had been ordered to figure out where it’d gone and how the ship had escaped virtually unnoticed. There were many Boxans who had difficulty accepting that the Humans were as primitive as they'd originally thought. They had proven to be ingenious but on occasion a bit too idealistic. Human idealism was infectious, and Kladomaor had noticed how his own species seemed to absorb it with an increasing fervor akin to that of a star's gravitational pull—slow at first, but building in intensity until they found themselves hungering to live instead of merely surviving. The potential of the Human species blazed brighter than anything he'd ever experienced. They had the capacity to become as ruthless as the Xiiginns had proven to be, but they were also passionate in their idealism. They dreamed of what they could be and chased that dream almost as if they were afraid it would slip away. Kladomaor had seen that same passion become almost completely extinguished in the Boxans, and now that they had raised their heads from the dreariest time in Boxan history, Kladomaor found that he would fight harder than he ever had before to ensure the Boxans’ future.
The main holoscreen on the bridge of the Boxan heavy cruiser showed real-time sensor feeds. They'd traveled to the outer system of planets in the Nerva star system, away from the Alliance fleet. He glanced over at Kaylan, who was speaking with the Athena crew near the communications station. She'd grown beyond the mission commander who'd been thrust into the commander's chair, and the longer he knew her, the more she reminded him of Ma'jasalax. Knowing Ma'jasalax as he did made him wonder whether he was jumping at shadows. Or had Kaylan grown into a shrewd leader, capable of traversing the dangerous circles of the Mardoxian Sect? She'd seemed quite surprised when the Athena left the Nerva star system.
Ma'jasalax entered the bridge and joined him. The Mardoxian priestess looked at the Athena crew for a moment before turning toward Kladomaor.
"Has the student become the teacher then?" Kladomaor asked.
Ma'jasalax seemed unperturbed by his intentional jab. "Kaylan cannot remain a student forever."
"No, she can't, but I still wonder at how events have unfolded," Kladomaor replied.
"You mean, did Kaylan purposefully set these events into motion?"
"I know they didn't want to give up their ship, and who could blame them? But in the end, what else could they have done?" Kladomaor said.
"I believe Kaylan really would have shared anything she learned from the Drar data repositories on the Athena, but once they return to Earth it probably wouldn't have been up to her. She realizes this, and she also knows you couldn’t guarantee that the High Council wouldn't put forth considerable effort to take the Athena away from them," Ma'jasalax said. She spoke softly so that the Boxans around them couldn't overhear their conversation. "You've often pointed out how Kaylan is a bit of an optimist, but the actions she's taken are logical and are more aligned with a realist’s philosophy. Wouldn't you agree?"
Kladomaor considered it for a moment and resisted the urge to look at Kaylan one more time, as if to glean some insight he hadn't considered before. He knew all he needed to know. "They are the actions of a mature leader, and I cannot find any fault in what she's done."
The beads on Ma'jasalax’s tightly braided hair slid across her shoulders as she sat back. "And yet we feel this inclination to resist what’s been done. The Alliance fleet has been growing, and we were going to confront the Xiiginns sooner or later."
"Eventually," Kladomaor agreed and glanced at the Athena crew. Kaylan was still speaking with them, and he snorted.
Ma'jasalax arched one of her eyebrows and looked at him. "What is it?"
"I'm surprised you haven't noticed," Kladomaor said and nodded toward Kaylan and the others.
"I might have, but I won't know unless you tell me what you were thinking just now," Ma'jasalax replied dryly.
Kladomaor hadn't missed the slight annoyance she'd put into her tone, and he supposed even the legendary Mardoxian priestess had her limits. "The gender divide of the Humans. All the males are on the ship. Some might believe they're there because they felt they needed to take action. I'm sure that’s Zack's motivation, but I doubt Hicks knew what was happening until it was already too late. The females are here. Kaylan has pointed them all in the direction she intended them to go. Now it's time for us to do our part."
"Etanu is with Zack and the others, but it could be a coincidence that these Athena crewmembers were left here," Ma'jasalax said.
Kladomaor shook his head. "Some of the Human cultural divide is almost instinctual. Each gender chooses their actions in their own way. Males want to protect the females. We've seen it many times when we've all faced danger, even with the female warriors among them. Perhaps the Humans will outgrow it, but it won't be for many cycles."
Boxans had evolved along similar lines, but those tendencies were virtually gone from their species. Even before the Chaos Wars, males and females had held similar roles in their society. In other words, the roles were the same regardless of the individuals who occupied them.
Kaylan approached them, along with the other Athena crewmembers.
"We've just received a message from Zack," Kaylan said.
Kladomaor frowned and used his neural implants to check the heavy cruiser's communications systems but didn't see anything in the logs from the Athena.
"It wasn't through standard communications," Kaylan said.
"Have they returned?" Kladomaor asked.
"No. And before you ask, we're not able to reply to them," Kaylan said.
"Why not? Where are they?"
"They’re heading closer to the Confederation space station, and we can't reply to them because it would give away their position. Athena used a micro-wormhole and sent a message to me that way," Kaylan said.
Kladomaor's thick eyebrows pulled together and he glanced toward Varek, who was monitoring the tactical battle station. They hadn't detected anything. They couldn't create a micro-wormhole, and even if they could, they'd have to know exactly where the Athena was in order to reach them.
"Athena left a drone in the area that checked to get our exact location," Kaylan said.
"I understand. The Confederation capital is where the armada is amassing. Why are they going there?" Kladomaor asked.
"Zack believes they might have a way to temporarily disrupt the Xiiginn influence," Kaylan said and waited for his reaction.
Kladomaor's shoulders became rigid and he looked at Ma'jasalax for a moment.
"He believes he can reproduce what the Drar space station did for Jonah Redford," Kaylan said.
Kladomaor's first instinct was to insist that it was impossible. There was no way to reverse the Xiiginn influence. Even his partial exposure to it could still affect him. "It's not possible to reverse it. The effects are permanent."
"He didn't say he was going to reverse the Xiiginn influence. He said they might have a way to disrupt it, which is exactly what happened with Jonah on the Drar space station. We all saw it. Jonah was dying, slowly being driven
mad by what the Xiiginns had done to him. But when we were on the Drar space station, he was coherent, as if what was causing his distress was gone. The damage had still been done—Jonah was dying and nothing was going to change that—but for a moment, at least, he was his old self and aware of what had happened to him," Kaylan said.
Kladomaor shook his head. "I remember those reports from when you were on the Drar space station, but we've studied the Xiiginn influence since the Chaos Wars and have never been even remotely close to doing what Zack claims can be done."
"It's not just Zack. Cardaleer is with them. They think they've found a way to make it work using the Athena," Kaylan said.
Kladomaor drew in a deep breath. Ever since the Chaos Wars, Boxans had longed for a way to cure the Xiiginn influence, but they'd always failed. It couldn't be done. The effects were irreversible. "Even with the Athena, how can this be done?"
"I don't know. Zack said he would have the Athena compile their research and store it on one of the escape pods that can later be picked up. That way if they fail, at least the knowledge won't be lost, and someone else can figure out what went wrong and try again," Kaylan said.
Kladomaor could tell Kaylan didn't like that part. Bonded pairs rarely approved when there was a significant risk to the other. This wasn't just a Human trait, but a common trait among many species that had bonded pairs. "So we’re to accept what they're doing on faith then. What are we supposed to do now?" Kladomaor asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Ma'jasalax said and arched an eyebrow at him.
Kladomaor should've known she would get her revenge for his earlier behavior. "Not to me, it isn't. All we know is that our closest link to the Drar is purposefully putting itself in the middle of the enemy fleet, hoping they can somehow disrupt the Xiiginn influence. That is reckless and misguided."
He didn't bother trying to hide the disgust in his voice. There was risk and then there was suicide.
"Zack wouldn't do this if he didn't believe they had a real chance at succeeding. Hicks is with them and wouldn't go along with it either," Kaylan said.
