Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  “Ah fuck, one thing at a time,” Jazz said, and kicked his way back to the rear and out of the cockpit. Eupiar didn’t blame him, the cold air in the cockpit might have been somewhat comfortable for her nice for Veloshira. But the three humans? They needed to warm up in the other parts of the ship that had warmer temperatures. “In the meantime let’s head toward the inner planets.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out for UNE ships,” Eupiar said.

  “Five days to get back . . .” Destiny said, joining Jazz. “Guess it’s time for a cryo nap to pass the time?”

  “Absolutely not!” Eupiar said.

  “I agree with her, I haven’t had a really good night’s sleep in ages,” Jazz said. “A five-day break would be fantastic about now.”

  “Well I brought plenty of rations for all,” Destiny said

  “If ya’ll need me, I’mma be chilling in my room back here,” Jazz said.

  Jazz entered his cabin as the doors behind him slid shut, cutting off all the stress and anxiety he had to deal with temporarily. There wasn’t much in his cabin, a bed that could be folded and stored inside the wall, a small table magnetized to the floor. To the right of him was a closet that held a bag of his belongings he brought with him from his apartment on Morutrin Prime, sans his data pad, whatever the fuck happened to that.

  He placed a pair of earphones on, it was connected to a music player that was given to him on his last visit to Earth. Most of the songs he had on it were old school hip-hop and R&B, though he was meaning to update it with some of the more recent stuff Eupiar had on her laptop. He interacted with the tiny holoscreen of the music player and loaded a playlist that consisted of early 90s music, the stuff his mother used to play on the radio when she drove him home from school.

  He went to kick back and relax upon realizing, he was still wearing the environment suit. How many fucking hours have I had this on? He stripped out of it at last, then out of the lab outfit he had under it. A shower was needed, a space shower, being a wet towel as the Silver Raven had no running water systems to bathe in, how could you with no gravity?

  Much better, he thought after his space shower.

  He was clean, refreshed, with a fresh pair of clothes on that he brought with him.

  Jazz wrapped himself in the blanket from his bed, and molded it into a makeshift zero-g sleeping bag. He positioned his floating body in a comfortable spot and shut his eyes, day one of a five-day vacation was about to start.

  Jazz was asleep for twenty minutes before he was awakened by a knock on his cabin’s door. He grunted and told them via the intercom they could enter. To his surprise, it was Chloe.

  “What is it?” he said.

  She entered and waited for the doors to slide shut before she said anything. “Jazz?”

  “Yes?”

  She looked around, wide eyed and placed her hands across her mouth. “I can’t believe it.”

  “What is it Vaughan?”

  “Jazz it’s me, Vaishea. I’m alive.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol system

  Xavier saw the reflection of his haggard face in the glass sliding door leading into the habitat ring infirmary. His hair was a mess, while snoot mixed with small blood gashes covered his face. As for his uniform, don’t get him started on that.

  A dejected facial expression appeared on his face upon seeing the sheer number of ship personnel inside the infirmary. All the beds were taken; many of the injured were forced to stay on the floor as doctors treated their wounds. In the far corner were several body bags, he hesitated to count how many brave men and women were inside. Those that were still alive had similar looks to one another, they were covered in blood and burns. It wasn’t hard to pick out those that were injured during the battle and those from direct combat with the Hashmedai. Those that engaged in combat and were still alive were missing body parts.

  Private Karen Park was one of the few lucky personnel that got stabbed and managed to live. Xavier saw Chris and Sarah check up on their newest EDF recruit as she remained in critical condition. Corporal Tom Richards wasn’t so lucky, he was pronounced dead less than thirty minutes ago. Xavier would never forget the young man’s sacrifice and the rage that enveloped Jacob Milles upon learning that Richards, someone that used to serve under him didn’t make it.

  Dr. Gordon Pike left several injured crew in the hands of nurses as he saw Xavier approach him, his medical gown was covered in bloody hand prints. The two stepped off to the side to speak. “How bad is it doc?” Xavier asked him.

  “Twenty-seven dead, forty-three injured ten of them critical.” Pike led Xavier to a section of the infirmary kept apart from the rest. There was a white curtain covering the medical beds on the inside of the closed off area while three marines stood guard with their rifles in hand. “Then we have our visitors here.”

  Pike guided the captain inside were he saw two Hashmedai being treated, a female guardian and a male warrior. The two Hashmedai that supposedly turned against their own kind to help the crew, though Xavier wasn’t buying it. Ella stood next to the two, well Avearan according to the EDF team that brought her back up from Titan. She was treating their wounds with her medical scanner and flesh regenerator along with the assistance of EVE.

  After a long pause Xavier gave his thoughts on the situation, a simple. “Well fuck me.”

  “Tell me about it,” Pike said. “I’ll let you figure out what to do with them after they’re done with them.”

  Xavier looked at Avearan. “So you’re mending them eh? Does this mean Dr. Lynn is back?”

  “Dr. Lynn is still in control of my body,” Avearan said to him.

  “Can I relay a message to her?”

  “You can’t, her body is under control of a powerful psionic force,” she said. “It’s like, mind control. Whatever they wish for her to do, she does it without question.”

  “Who are they?”

  “The goddess . . .” she said as she passed her scanner over the face of the female guardian. “Long story, I’ll be happy to share with you once I’m done.”

  Xavier directed his attention to the Hashmedai with his arms crossed. “What do you make of this EVE?”

  “She seems to be able to access Dr. Lynn’s knowledge of xenobiology,” EVE said. “Between that and information stored in my databanks, these two Hashmedai should be able to make a full recovery.”

  “I mean, what’s your take on these two?” he said pointing at their Hashmedai patients.

  “The male came to my aid during the incursion while the female defeated two others, the ones that were responsible for Corporal Richards death at that,” EVE said. “They had the advantage to attack me, but choose not to. I believe they are defectors.”

  “Or it’s a trick, and their waiting for us to lower our guard.”

  “Believe what you want,” the female Hashmedai said in English. Xavier’s head jerked backward slightly as a result. “But we’re not your enemy.”

  “You speak English?” he asked her.

  Nodding yes, she said. “My name is Onatiasha Ladyknight of the imperial guard.”

  He grimaced, unsure of what do next, shake her hand in greeting? “Captain Martin Xavier.” Onatiasha was surprisingly polite, all things considered, she desired that much, a formal introduction from him.

  “When you are free captain, I wish to speak with you,” Onatiasha said. “There’s more about this war you need to know.”

  “I’m all done here, if you want to chat,” Avearan said.

  “Good,” Xavier said. “Throw them in the brig.”

  “What?”

  “We’ll talk Ms. Ladyknight, during an interrogation.” Sorry miss, I can’t take chances with my crew in the condition they are in.

  Xavier asked for the three marines posted outside to enter and escort Onatiasha and her friend away to the brig. The two didn’t put up a struggle and accepted what was coming willfully before being dragged out of sight.

&n
bsp; As Xavier watched them leave the infirmary, Avearan stood next to him and asked. “Want me to go with them? For old times’ sake?”

  “That thought crossed my mind, but lucky for you EDF went through a lot of trouble to get the black site’s staff to hand you over to us,” Xavier said. “On that note, what else can you tell me about your translations of the data?” The prime reason we came here in the first place.

  “I wasn’t able to get more out of it,” Avearan said. “The Hashmedai has access to a weapon of some sort, eight of them that’s all I can gather and the coordinates of Earth, though that shouldn’t be much of a surprise right now.”

  “EVE,” Xavier said to the android.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “What became of yer friend you made in the lab?”

  EVE moved over to a body bag inside their sealed off section. The two followed behind her as she opened it exposing what was inside. The corpse of Lex Terry with his partly burned to a crisp chest, dressed in Hashmedai assassin attire.

  “And him,” Xavier said, directing Avearan’s attention to the body. “What do you know?”

  “A human male, wearing Hashmedai assassin gear,” Avearan said, with a snarky tone of voice.

  “I can see that, what else?”

  “Male, very handsome.”

  “Oh blast!” Xavier said as he rolled his eyes.

  “What else do you want me to say?”

  “The survivor from the outpost we picked up, transformed a Hashmedai assassin, then reverted back after being killed.”

  “Really?”

  EVE added. “His body transmuted from a human form to Hashmedai, my bio scans showed that during this time his DNA was that of a Hashmedai.”

  Avearan lifted her medical scanner up and waved it around the body before them. The results of the scan appeared in front of them via a holographic window. A DNA strand and several red pulsing lights appeared around several sections of the strand. Xavier was no doctor, but suspected something wasn’t right judging by the light lights and strange beeps.

  “So I take it this isn’t something normal with Hashmedai?” he asked.

  “No, this is very strange if what you’re saying is the truth,” Avearan said.

  “It does however explain what happened to the outpost, Captain,” EVE said to Xavier.

  “How so?”

  “Theoretically speaking, this Hashmedai transformed into Petty officer Terry, boarded the station then used the device we found to infect it with malware.”

  “Right you mentioned that thing was full of the malware.”

  “That is correct, a computer virus designed to damage the mind shield and allow Hashmedai psionics to teleport aboard. That is most likely what happened to the outpost.”

  “And now we’ve been infected huh?”

  “Along with the Wilfrid Laurier I’m afraid,” EVE said. “The virus accessed our network and began to spread to them and attempted to infect the rest of the UNE fleet before I terminated all network activity for both ships.”

  “How soon can we get this malware out of our systems?” Xavier said.

  “It is a difficult task, one that will take some time as some of my functions has been infected as well. It is indeed a complex design, whoever designed it knew my computing was going to prevent it from performing correctly.”

  “No network, so communication is out of the question?”

  “That is correct, Captain,” EVE said. “Speaking with any other ship may put them at risk of contamination. We can communicate with the Wilfrid Laurier, only because they have already been infected.”

  “What about the QEC?”

  “Not recommended as well. We will only be spreading the malware to all computers at Earth Cube, which would theoretically spread to all of Earth and the rest of the Solar system.”

  EVE’s reveal helped put things into prospective for Xavier. The Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier were cut off from the UNE as far as data transmissions went. Not even transports or Solaris fighters could be contacted, thus meaning the evacuation transports from Titan and the hordes of Solaris fighters escorting it were on their own for the time being.

  “Thank you, EVE,” Xavier said as he directed his attention toward Avearan. “Now what are we going to do with you?”

  “I have access to Dr. Lynn’s medical knowledge,” Avearan said. “And apparently I’m a better doctor than the ones you have.”

  Cheeky little one, Xavier thought. “Enlighten me.”

  Avearan stretched the size of the hologram in front of her larger with her hands. Afterward she began to point toward the projection of Terry’s DNA strand with the red glowing spots still radiating from it. A secondary image appeared next to it and she began to compare the two.

  “His DNA right now isn’t a hundred percent human,” Avearan said. “And this one right here?” Avearan pointed to the new hologram that loaded. “This data is based off the bio scans EVE performed when he was supposedly a Hashmedai. Similar to what we’re seeing right now, he was a Hashmedai but his DNA wasn’t a hundred percent Hashmedai, was spliced with DNA from another species.”

  “Human perhaps when he was in his Hashmedai form then vice versa?” Xavier said. “He was able to shift back and forth between the two.”

  “No, in fact they are no traces of human DNA anywhere with the data EVE gathered, and there’s no Hashmedai DNA inside his body now,” she said, having gained Xavier’s undivided attention. “It isn’t DNA from the five Radiance races either; it’s of a completely unknown species.”

  “EVE long shot, but do you recognize it with anything from your Radiance databanks?”

  “Standby,” EVE said as she performed a quick search. “I do not, Captain.”

  “Last time I checked they’re only seven intelligence races in the galaxy,” Xavier said.

  “Correction Captain, seven known, studied, and cataloged,” EVE said. “There is however mention of another species in my Radiance database, an extinct one known as the Lyonria. It is however unknown if this unidentified gene is from that race, as no remains of the Lyonria race have been found, only the ruins of their cities.”

  Ancient ruins shape shifters, Ella and Avearan’s bodies swapped, goddesses . . . Xavier faced Avearan, his mouth twisted as he processed everything in his head regarding their new findings and what they’d discovered within the last two months.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Avearan asked him.

  “I think I’m ready to have that chat with you,” Xavier said to her.

  Avearan looked toward a new group of injured crew members that entered the infirmary with a dire need of medical attention. “Can it wait until we’re in a better shape here?”

  Xavier agreed surprised that she was willing to put in the effort to help the crew given her background. They were shorthanded in the aftermath and alone in the vastness of space, he’d take whatever help he could have gotten at that point.

  Xavier left the infirmary and proceeded to engineering, worried that they might be shorthanded as well. Inside he saw a handful of men and women in their orange coveralls float next to blackened sections of the engine room with their tools and welder’s visors equipped. Chief Weerasinghe was directing traffic as he had a checklist of urgent tasks that needed to be completed on his holo pad as Xavier loomed next to him.

  “Chief how goes it?”

  “Bad sir.”

  “Define bad.”

  “We’re right back to where we started after the encounter with the two destroyers.”

  “I thought the crew from the Wilfrid Laurier helped speed things up?”

  “We weren’t a hundred percent finished. The Hashmedai that boarded did a lot more damage than we thought with the fighting.”

  “How soon can we be ready to depart?”

  “Captain I won’t lie to you, we’re no shape for travel, I need more time.”

  “The Wilfrid Laurier never got the chance to pick up all their people, put them to work.”
/>   “A lot of those folks plus a few of my own are dead or dying in the infirmary right now.”

  “Give me a number, how many hours do you figure.”

  “Three maybe four—”

  “That’s not bad at all—”

  “Days, sir.”

  “Fuck me!” Xavier yelled then grunted. “You got two days max Chief.”

  “If you can get the doctors to clear some folks to get released and return to duty I can do that, but as it stands that’s not even remotely possible, we’re all working double shifts, many of us haven’t had the chance to sleep since the Uranus encounter, others are still traumatized at the Hashmedai invasion.”

  “This is war son, these things happen.”

  “With all due respect sir, these people aren’t combatants they’re engineers. I can only push them so far before they breakdown and start making stupid mistakes, mistakes that might get us killed in the next battle.”

  “Every day we idle here, gives the Hashmedai a chance to come back for a second attack, or worse, plow toward Earth. We have no comms or network access due to the malware, we need to be able to move at the very least.”

  “I’ll do my best sir.”

  “So two days chief?”

  Weerasinghe gave Xavier a subtle smile and nod, Xavier patted him on the back and took his leave, eying the overworked and understaffed engineering crew as they continued to make repairs.

  Geneva, Earth, Sol system

  The President of Earth Mariana Salamanca sat in her presidential limo and waited while her security detail performed a double check at the Radiance temple they parked in front of in a in a nearby residential community. She was among the eight percent of Geneva’s human population that converted to Radiance’s religious beliefs in the worship of their three gods. War was coming to the inner planets of Sol, she needed guidance as well provide justification for keeping this particular temple open in the aftermath of Radiance’s continuing withdrawal from Earth.

  A human partaking in worship of the Radiance gods was nothing new. But after the takeover of the ESV John F. Kennedy by human believers that were indoctrinated by the Celestial Order, it had become an increasing controversial subject. Especially for President Salamanca as she had converted to the religion weeks before the attack. Keeping her beliefs a secret during this time was critical for she knew it would be used against when came elections. If there ever were elections, if the Hashmedai did make it to Earth there would be one of two outcomes. Earth takes Radiance’s offer and joins the union, or they get wiped out.