by Petra Landon
“Main power sub-system.” He stabbed his finger at a section on the blueprint, before gesturing at other parts of the ship. “Navigation and weapons.”
“It is a good start, Captain” the First Commander agreed, assigning warriors to the various sub-systems. These would be scanned down to the lowest granularity. Every piece of information they could get on the Brutaniyr would prove invaluable on the battlefield.
One of the Ur’quay strode up to them to address the mercenary. “We have identified three life-signs in the meeting pod and eighty-five aboard the battleship, Captain. The shuttle is empty.”
“How many do not match the majority?” Zoran inquired.
“Only four life-signs. They are all aboard the Ketaari battleship.”
Zoran pointed at the blueprint on his console. “Could you overlay where these four life-signs are on the ship here?”
“Give me a moment, Captain.” The Ur’quay warrior reached forward to access the data from the console while D’raar murmured into his communicator.
Zoran glanced across the chamber to the young Ur’quay babysitting the Henia’s jammers. “Warrior Py’ril, any sign the Ketaari suspect they are being jammed?”
“No, Captain” the young warrior responded. “But there is little communication between the pod and the battleship.”
The Henia was jamming all long-range communication from the Brutaniyr, without arousing the Ketaari’s suspicions. They did this by capturing and scrambling all outgoing data from the battleship on the Imperial Forces’ communication frequencies, storing a record of the communiques while transmitting absolute gibberish to the intended recipient of the message. It would take the Ketaari some time to figure it out. To lull them, short-range communication between the Brutaniyr and the Ketaari party on the space pod continued unhampered. The Henia monitored the communications, recording the transcripts while Warrior Py’ril listened in as the translators churned through Ketar in real time. After the first clandestine run to Budheyasta, the Star Captain had made sure that the Ur’quay translators could handle Ketar. Data from the Juntafeyore’s translators had been adapted to Ur’quay tech.
“The Star Captain confirms the presence of a mind-reader.”
At D’raar’s somber remark to Zoran, silence descended on the chamber. The Ur’quay turned their heads as one to glance at the First Commander. It was only for a split second but for Zoran that was enough.
He knew that news of a telepath who had attempted to invade thoughts without permission had infuriated the Ur’quay. Zoran, who had worked closely with the Ur’quay for months now, could sense the simmering anger in the starfarers who believed strongly that their sixth sense was a gift that was never under any circumstances to be used to breach another’s privacy. Pressed for time, their Captain had shared few details with his warriors except to alert them about the attempt to unmask a telepath at the rendezvous. But Zoran was acutely aware of the fine line the Star Captain now walked to protect Sila’s secret from his own people.
“Captain” the young Ur’quay by the console drew his attention to it.
Four bright, flickering flashes on the Brutaniyr blueprint indicated the non-Ketaari presence on the Imperial Forces battleship. Zoran noted that as the detailed sensor scans from the three crucial sub-systems he had identified came through, the Henia was filling in the details on the console to provide a more accurate rendering of those sections of the Brutaniyr.
Zoran studied the life-signs carefully. Three were grouped close together while one was at the other end of the Brutaniyr. He recognized the section.
“That’s the galley” he said, pointing to the area around the single life-sign. “The Ketaari use Nisaran chefs on some of the Brutaniyrs that carry VIP guests. I would bet that is a Nisaran.”
He turned to the warrior. “Focus on the other three life-signs. Please do a comprehensive scan on all three. Go as deep as your sensors will allow.”
“Our scans can get you their genetic code, Captain” the warrior assured him, before striding away to his station.
“I’ll ask for a scan of the Brutaniyr section with the three, Captain” D’raar said to the mercenary as he signaled his warriors. “Might tell us more about them.”
“I have asked Medic Vh’raal to join us” he added. “We don’t have much knowledge of the races in Sector Araloka but he might be able to shed a little light on the life-sign data.”
Zoran was impressed. The Star Captain had hand-picked his First Commander for the position and he could see why. Not only was D’raar directing his warriors to focus on different pieces of the puzzle, he was thinking on his feet. Vh’raal was a highly decorated Space Force warrior and had landed the largely ceremonial post of chief medic on the Henia since it was to be the flagship of the Ur’quay Fleet that would fight beside their new allies in Sector Araloka.
As data from the section around the three non-Ketaari life-signs slowly streamed in to the console, it struck Zoran that he knew where they were. “It’s the Medic Bay” he exclaimed. “Those three are in the Brutaniyr’s Medic Bay!”
He looked closer at the data on his console. The life-sign he suspected to be a Nisaran chef seemed to be behaving subtly differently from the other three.
“First Commander, do you see something different about the three life-signs? he asked.
The First Commander leant in to peer intently at the console. “They are not moving” he said slowly.
“Exactly” Zoran concurred. “They’re not. Why?”
“Incapacitated in some form, perhaps?” the First Commander murmured thoughtfully.
“They are in the Medic Bay” Zoran muttered, pondering the matter. “Will your life-sign scan pick up traces of sedatives in them, First Commander?”
“A comprehensive scan will pick up all traces of chemicals, but if the sedative is organic, the sensors might not be able to distinguish it.”
An older Ur’quay male joined them to be greeted respectfully. This was Medic Vh’raal, an Ur’quay Space Force hero. The warrior with the data on the life-signs strode forward to hand the medic a tablet.
The older Ur’quay male pored over the data for a few minutes. “All three have a lot of genetic code in common” he remarked.
“From the same race?” Zoran asked.
“Much closer, Captain” the medic said thoughtfully. “I think they belong to the same family. Like cousins though I’m not able to tell you how many degrees separate them.”
Zoran pursed his lips. This was very strange.
“Anything else — age or sex perhaps?” he inquired.
“There is code that marks two of them as male. The third doesn’t have the same markers. I can’t tell their ages for sure but I don’t believe they are very old.”
“Thank you, Medic Vh’raal.” Zoran directed the older Ur’quay male’s attention to the console. “What do you make of this? These three seem to be sedated in the battleship’s Medic Bay, but we suspect one of them is the telepath.”
D’raar enhanced the section of the ship they suspected to be the Medic Bay as Vh’raal peered at the blueprint. The walls and some of the details of objects in the room were rendering in real time as the data from the sensors streamed in.
“Hmm, some of this in the Bay must be medical equipment” the medic noted. “First Commander, we should run a spectral scan of anything that looks like equipment. If there are chemical traces in them, our sensors will pick it up. It might tell us what kind of treatment these three are under.”
D’raar nodded at the warrior who had brought the tablet to the medic. He strode away to his console.
Warrior Py’ril hailed Zoran across the chamber from his station. “Captain, the Ketaari battleship now suspects their sensors are being jammed. They’ve communicated that to the meeting pod.”
“What about long-range communication, Warrior Py’ril?”
“They don’t suspect that yet, Captain.”
Zoran turned to D’raar. “How much time, First
Commander?”
“We have the results of a preliminary ship-wide scan as well as detailed data from the power, navigation and weapons sub-systems, Captain. But we need another ten minutes for the sensors to scan their Medic Bay.”
Zoran grinned. “We will get it, First Commander. It’ll take them time to react. Right now, I can almost taste the Ketaari’s panic and consternation at the Alliance’s jamming capabilities. They will finally wonder about the Henia — the Armada’s advanced high-tech ship. The Ketaari have spies too and they will ask themselves why they haven’t been told about the new Alliance warship with technology beyond theirs.”
The mercenary was proven right in his assessment. It was another fifteen minutes before the Ketaari raised the alarm. By then, the Henia’s sensors had gathered plenty of data from the Brutaniyr.
In the Ur’quay personal craft, Sila watched silently as the Star Captain expertly glided them back to the Henia. Beside her, Commander Kerovac remained deep in thought, a small furrow between his brows.
As they approached the final stretch, the Star Captain turned to the Commander.
“What?” he inquired, struck by the Alliance Commander’s uncharacteristically pensive stance.
Commander Kerovac focused his bright cobalt eyes on the starfarer.
“I’m amazed by the Ketaari, Star Captain. They draw me here with an elaborate trap to extract Alliance secrets by reading my mind. Yet, they don’t even bother to concoct a good cover story for the invitation. Any plausible excuse, however flimsy, would suffice — some kind of offer that might on the face of it, at least, be somewhat tempting for the Alliance. But the discussion with the Special Envoy was so sloppy and pointless that they had to have known it would raise my suspicions. That supposed deal he offered me to end the war was laughable.”
“Yes” the Star Captain acceded. “The Emperor’s proposition was disingenuous. You would never entertain it and they knew it. It almost seems that they were so sure of success that they didn’t care if it aroused your suspicions.”
After all, if the Ketaari were to successfully probe the Alliance’s best-kept secrets without anyone being the wiser, the Empire would have the upper hand in Sector Araloka.
“Perhaps” Commander Kerovac murmured thoughtfully.
When the Torfa docked on the huge hanger aboard the Henia, Zoran waited for them.
The mercenary arched his brow at the Alliance Commander. It was done casually with a hint of curiosity, but essentially left it up to the Commander to share whatever bits he thought appropriate. Zoran was not Alliance, but after his efforts in bringing about the collaboration with the Budheya, the Commander had to have guessed that the mercenary was immensely driven to destroy the Empire.
“The Emperor’s offer was to call off the dogs if the Alliance members declared their fealty to him” the Alliance Commander said baldly.
Zoran looked incredulous. And for once, he didn’t bother being subtle or diplomatic with the Alliance Commander.
“Exactly” Kerovac said evenly. “They must think me a prize fool.”
“Or they’re playing a deeper game than we think” Zoran murmured.
The Star Captain steered them all towards the Command Chamber.
“The Henia is on its way” he remarked. D’raar’s orders had been to take off once the Torfa was aboard, before the Ketaari had a chance to regroup. “Did we get anything about the mind-reader, Zoran?”
“Yes, your warriors are to be commended, Zh’hir. We have data on the telepath and detailed intel on the Imperial Forces’ most advanced Brutaniyr. I’d call it a success.”
d
“They are Budheya” Dr. Uish announced to the six people gathered in the chamber on the Juntafeyore.
There was an instant of stunned silence before simultaneous eruptions from the Hadari’Kor and the Iovac. Only the Ur’quay Captain and his deputy remained silent, though the medic’s words had surprised them too. After over a year in the sector, the Ur’quay were cognizant of the Budheya’s tangled and brutal history with the Ketaari.
“Budheya” Zoran repeated incredulously, even as Aide-de-Champ Tirovac blurted out an astonished exclamation.
“Are you sure, Doctor?” Commander Kerovac asked Dr. Uish after the first flush of consternation had died down. He was, as always, precise and rational in his approach though the news had certainly taken him aback.
The Henia had met up with the Ishtralaya and Juntafeyore under the shadow of a small planetoid some distance from the rendezvous, to make sense of the enormous amounts of data the Ur’quay sensors had collected from the Brutaniyr. Commander Kerovac had brought only his flagship and a lean crew to his rendezvous with the Ketaari envoy. In the absence of Alliance medics and scientists to help them analyze the data and very conscious of time constraints in getting to grips with this dangerous new threat, Kerovac had accepted Zoran’s offer of Dr. Uish’s services. The Hadari’Kor Captain had executed a minor coup by convincing the wiry Dr. Uish to join the Juntafeyore. The Lopordian doctor’s work was well-known in research circles and he possessed the expertise and experience to help analyze the genetic material the Henia’s sensors had collected on their suspected telepaths. The Hadari’Kor, with knowledge of Ketaari technology and tactics, worked in tandem with the Ur’quay under the joint command of Commander Jolar and First Commander D’raar to piece together the rest of the raw intel collected.
“Positive, Commander Kerovac” the doctor said confidently. “The data indicates a ninety two percent match with Budheya genetic code — well above the average. The rest is a mix of other Aralokan races. Medic Vh’raal’s analysis was correct. The three Budheya are related – they’re first cousins.”
“What about the fourth non-Ketaari life-sign, Doctor?” inquired the First Commander.
“A Nisaran male in his early thirties, as the Captain suspected. I could find nothing unusual about him” the doctor answered.
Commander Kerovac was the first to pick up on the medic’s words. “You found something unusual about the Budheya, Dr. Uish?” he asked.
“A strain in their genetic code I could not identify. It is about five percent of the code and is present in all three. I’m searching the species database as we speak for a match” Dr. Uish said, referring to the database that had been compiled over centuries and was commonly used to identify genetic code for the different races in Sector Araloka.
“Something about it troubles you, Doctor?” Jolar remarked shrewdly. He knew Dr. Uish well and could pick up on the undercurrents.
“I’ve seen this strand of genetic code before, Commander Jolar” the doctor admitted. “But I cannot remember where. It seems very familiar and yet, I have no record of it in my notes.”
“Perhaps, the database will provide a match” Jolar suggested hopefully.
“Perhaps” Dr. Uish agreed.
“Are these Budheya collaborating with the Ketaari?” Zoran, who’d remained silent after his initial shock, exclaimed incredulously.
He had been shocked, disturbed and enraged by the Imperial Forces’ treatment of Saakshi. As their relationship had progressed, her anecdotes of life under Ketaari occupation had made him determined to not stand by the sidelines anymore and to do something about the situation. But even Zoran had not grasped the full extent of what two hundred years of occupation had done to the Budheya. It was only when he had set foot on Budheyasta to witness the living conditions that Zoran truly understood what the Ketaari had done to a once proud and accomplished people. That any Budheya would collaborate with the Ketaari after the treatment of the occupying forces seemed almost impossible for him to wrap his head around.
“Not necessarily, Zoran” the Star Captain reminded him quietly. “They could be helping the Ketaari under duress.”
Zoran’s dark eyes shot to meet the Star Captain’s steady gaze until Dr. Uish cleared his throat.
“I believe the Star Captain has it right” the doctor chimed in. “The Ur’quay scans indicate the presence of a co
cktail of synthetic drugs in all three Budheya.”
“Synthetic drugs” Jolar repeated. “Any idea what they are meant for, Doctor?”
Dr. Uish shook his head. “I recognize a few of the drugs in the cocktail and am attempting to break down the chemical compositions of the rest — it might offer us a clue to their intended purpose.”
“But the data would indicate that they are sedated?” Commander Kerovac persisted.
“Beyond a doubt” the doctor confirmed. “The doses in them are very high, Commander.”
The Ur’quay First Commander glanced at Zoran. “That would explain why they were hooked up to the devices in the ship’s medical chamber, Captain.”
Zoran nodded thoughtfully. So, the Budheya were not collaborators, he mused. Yet, the mystery had only deepened.
“My team is also studying the data from the medical equipment to figure out what their purpose is” the doctor remarked. “They look like standard drug administrator and monitor machines at first glance, but I need to take a closer look at the data from them.”
“What else can you tell us about the Budheya cousins?” the Star Captain prompted Dr. Uish.
“One is female and other two are males — all in their mid to late twenties. The female and one of the males are twins while the second male is a first cousin. The strange strand I have not been able to identify forms only a small percent of their overall genetic code. The rest of their non-Budheya genes have been matched.”
The Ur’quay looked puzzled at the doctor’s words and it was Zoran who provided them an explanation.
“There has been a fair bit of intermingling between species in this sector. The advent of the Alliance has only accelerated inter-mating. We’re used to seeing a lot of mixed genetic codes in Sector Araloka. But the Budheya have been isolated on their world for almost a century and a half, so it is rare to see other genetic strands in them even though they were known to mate with other races before the Ketaari cut them off from the sector.”
“So unlike other races in the sector, it is not uncommon for Budheya to possess almost pure genetic code?” First Commander D’raar verified.