by Saxon Andrew
• • •
Jab kept his head down on the console but saw a warship accelerate out of the mass of ships surrounding the planet and move toward his shuttle. He closed his eyes and pulled the grey backpack close to is chest. This was the hard part.
• • •
The warship moved to the shuttle and used its thrusters to maneuver the shuttle into its landing bay. The bay door had to be cut open to get inside, it appeared the occupant wasn’t opening it. The doctor rushed to the control panel and found the pilot slumped over his controls. He pulled him back in his chair and swung it around. He was holding a grey bag and the doctor tried to remove it but the man held on to it with a death grip. As weak as this man appeared to be, the doctor didn’t want to risk causing him greater harm. He activated his communicator and saw Welden appear, “Second Cleric, the pilot is unconscious and he’s holding a grey bag so tightly I fear forcing him to release it may do him harm.”
Welden closed his eyes and knew what had happened, “Scan it and if there’s nothing of danger inside it, allow him to keep it with him.”
“Yes, Second Cleric. I’m starting an IV now. I don’t know what this man has been through but he’s barely holding on.”
“He’ll stay alive long enough to speak with me, Doctor. Get him here to the High Cleric’s medical facilities.”
“Yes, Second Cleric.”
Welden knew how strong Borgt’s will was and he came here for a reason. He wouldn’t give up until he accomplished his goal.
• • •
Regenia watched the shuttle being moved into the warship and immediately flew away. There was not much of a chance of her scout being detected but there was no reason to take a chance. These new scouts were leagues ahead of the old model. She flew for two days before reporting in to Admiral Talent.
• • •
The warship flew to the planet at high speed and just before it arrived the doctor contacted the High Cleric, “I have run a DNA check on the pilot, High Cleric.”
“And?”
“The pilot is the Senior Law Enforcer named Borgt that was assigned to the Second Cleric. The DNA is an exact duplicate and there is no doubt about his identity.”
“Thank you, Doctor. I wanted to be sure in the event I had to kill him if he wasn’t. Get him to my medical facilities.”
“We’ll arrive with him in fifteen minutes, High Cleric.”
Jab listened to the Doctor and kept his eyes closed. He had to time the next part perfectly but at least he had gotten down to the planet. Even if they discovered he wasn’t Borgt, he would accomplish the major goal he had been given.
• • •
The shuttle came out of orbit at high speed and landed on top of the Creation Building. Four sailors rolled a gurney off the shuttle with Borgt on it and rushed toward the elevators. Jab used a needle in his palm to punch a hole in the side of the backpack and he squeezed it harder. The wind blowing over the building picked up the ejected spores and blew them out over the city. The Elevator opened and the gurney was taken to the first-floor medical facility. Jab squeezed the back pack again as it rolled down the hall and once again when he arrived inside the facility. The air handlers picked up the spores and spread them through the building. Jab knew that the countdown had begun; this was the first step.
• • •
Jab kept his eyes closed and waited until Welden and the High Cleric showed up. Weldon looked at Borgt and shook his head, “What have they done to him?”
The High Cleric shook his head and Jab moaned slightly. After a moment, he opened his eyes and saw Weldon, “Third Cleric! I made it back to you.”
The High Cleric moved in front of Jab’s eyes, “What happened to you. We thought you were dead.”
“I don’t know what happened after Ryshana and I were hit with a stunner beam from a small ship in the forest.”
Jab started rolling his head from side-to-side and the attending doctor said, “We’re going to lose him. I need to get a feeding tube into him.”
The High Cleric turned to Welden, “We need to give him some time to recover. We’ll come back when he’s able to speak coherently.”
Welden nodded and put his hand on Jab’s arm; he then turned and left with the High Cleric. The doctor turned to Welden, “What about this bag he’s holding?”
Welden stopped and turned around, “It belonged to his mate. Allow him to keep it until we come back. It’s been scanned and there’s nothing in it but some clothing.”
The doctor nodded and turned to Jab. The High Cleric asked Welden, “Why would you allow him to keep it?”
“High, Cleric, holding that bag tells me that his mate didn’t survive what happened. Taking it from him might put him over the edge.” The High Cleric shrugged and continued out of the medical facility. Jab had made sure he opened a new hole in the backpack before they left.
• • •
Four days later, Borgt was rolled up to the High Cleric’s quarters in a wheelchair. He looked slightly better than when he arrived; the darkness around his eyes was fading and they didn’t look so sunken into his face. Welden was sitting next to the High Cleric and they watched the doctor leave. The High Cleric turned to Borgt, “Tell us what happened to you.”
“Ryshana and I arrived at her community and landed at the edge of the forest. I saw on my monitor that another small ship was moving in toward us from the city and we walked out to see who it was, High Cleric.”
Jab paused and the High Cleric ordered, “Go on.”
“We saw it approaching and I saw a man standing inside the open bay door holding a weapon. I grabbed Ryshana’s hand and pulled her toward the forest just as a stunner bean hit where we were standing a moment earlier. We ran into the thickets attempting to escape and both of us were bleeding from the thorns that punctured our clothes. Then both of us were hit by the stunner and that’s the last thing I remember.”
The High Cleric stared at Borgt and said, “My investigators said that they found your burned uniform in the forest with your DNA inside it.”
“I was bleeding so much from the thorns that I’m not surprised, High Cleric. Whoever did this must have taken my uniform off and burned it to make it appear I was killed.”
“They also found blood from your mate, Senior Law Enforcer.”
“She was bleeding worse than I was, High Cleric.”
“What is the next thing you remember?”
“Ryshana and I regained consciousness in what appeared to be a prison cell. We didn’t know how we got there and the guards refused to speak to us. They fed us regularly but never spoke to us.”
“So, you didn’t know where you were?” Welden asked.
“No, we didn’t. But I figured out pretty quickly we were no longer on the Holy Planet.” The high cleric’s eyes narrowed and Borgt continued, “There was a window outside our cell and I determined daylight lasted much longer than it does here. We knew that our captors were on another planet.”
“Why would someone go to that much trouble to remove you from here?” the High Cleric asked.
Borgt raised his shoulders, “I don’t know. However, before they came and took Ryshana away, one night when I was asleep, Ryshana saw a well-dressed man come to our cell and look in on us. She told me that one of the guards asked him why we were being held and he said, “He is getting too close.”
“Close to what?” the High Cleric asked.
“That was all she heard him say, High Cleric. Neither of us knew what it meant.”
Welden shook his head, “He was in your quarters during our card games, High Cleric. Maybe they were talking about him getting too close to you.”
The High Cleric shook his head, “If that were the case and they believed he was a danger to me, they would have just reported him. They removed him for another reason.”
“Well who else was he close to, High Cleric?”
The High Cleric stared at Welden and then his eyes opened wide, “I know who did this and why
they did it.” Borgt and Welden jerked their heads to the High Cleric. “My sister did this to weaken you, Second Cleric.”
“Why would she do that?” Welden asked.
“You had been promoted to Third Cleric at a rapid pace and the Second Cleric was her husband. She was afraid that you would take his place and she took steps to weaken you.” Welden’s eyes narrowed and the High Cleric added, “You’ve told me many times that Borgt was your best advisor. She decided that removing him would weaken you and remove you as a threat to replacing her husband. She ambushed Borgt and his mate and sent them to one of the conquered planets their son ruled.”
Why didn’t she just kill us?” Borgt inquired.
“I can answer that.” Welden replied. The High Cleric and Borgt turned to him. “I know that she must have done this without her husband’s knowledge. I had to undergo the Inquisitor’s questioning and they asked me if I had anything to do with Borgt’s death.”
“The Second Cleric had to do the same,” The High Cleric interjected.”
“And he knew nothing about it, I’m sure,” Welden replied. “Your sister was told what the Inquisitors asked her husband and she could honestly say that she had nothing to do with Borgt’s death because he was still alive. She kept him alive as an insurance policy against being questioned.”
Borgt turned to Welden, “Did they ask about my mate?”
Welden stared at him for a moment before answering, “No, they did not.”
Borgt’s eyes closed, “That’s why she had Ryshana taken out and killed. She wasn’t a threat to her.”
“Did they stop feeding you?”
“No, Second Cleric. I refused to eat after they killed her.”
“So, how did you manage to get here?” the High Cleric asked.
“The senior guard came to my cell one night and asked me if I knew how to fly an interstellar shuttle. I told him I did. He made me put on some shackles and then led me out of the cell to the roof of the prison. I heard people screaming in the streets below and thousands of air vehicles were lifting around us. The guard dragged me to the shuttle and shackled me to the pilot’s chair. He ordered me to set a course for the Holy Planet and kept a blaster trained on me. I told him the warships in orbit would stop us but he laughed and told me to let him worry about that. I lifted the shuttle and moved into orbit above the planet. There were no warships in orbit and we left without being challenged. A couple of days out, I got him to allow me to go to the bathroom and when he unshackled me from the chair, I swung them into his head and knocked him unconscious…”
“There was no body on the ship!” the High Cleric interrupted.
“I put his body in the bay and opened the door blowing it out into space. I didn’t want the stench from his decomposing body smelling up the ship. He was still alive when I did it.”
“You should have brought him back here to be questioned.”
“High Cleric, I was extremely weak and struggling to stay conscious; it would have only been a matter of time until he took control of me again.”
“Do you know what planet you were held on?”
“No, High Cleric. He forced me to keep my eyes on the forward scanner and I didn’t see it. I was surprised we weren’t challenged by a warship.”
The High Cleric glanced at Weldon before replying, “There’s no way to prove this but all the facts indicate that my sister is the one responsible for doing it.” The High Cleric turned to Welden, “Borgt is restored to his rank of Senior Law Enforcer and is assigned directly to you.”
Borgt quickly asked, “High Cleric, may I keep my mate’s bag with me.”
The High Cleric saw Borgt’s sadness and nodded, “I will allow it and have anyone that challenges you on it to contact me directly.”
“Thank you, High Cleric. Maybe one day I will be able to let it go.”
Welden rolled Borgt out of the High Cleric’s quarters and said, “I’m taking you to your new quarters. I forbid you to allow yourself to die, I need your advice. Take some time to get your weight back and I’ve assigned you a small ship on top of the building. Go out to visit some sites around the planet and pull yourself together. Contact me when you’re ready to go back to work.”
“Thank you, Second Cleric. I was determined to get back and tell you all I know. Now, I don’t know what I have to look forward to doing.”
“Take enough time to find out, Borgt. I’m counting on you to assist me.” Borgt nodded and lowered his head.
Chapter Nineteen
Tal looked up from his console and turned to Ryshana, “He’s made it down to the planet.”
Ryshana put her hands to her neck and said, “Oh, thank the Creator!”
Tal smiled and turned back to his console. A few moment’s later, Duncan appeared, “How are you doing on getting things finished, Duncan?”
“We’ll wrap up in two days, Tal.”
“I’m starting the process here, Duncan. Thanks for getting things done so quickly.”
“Are you sure about this, Tal?”
“I am. I’ll keep you informed on what’s going on. You might want to start the Alphas moving in a couple of months.”
“I’ll contact Admiral Ward and let him know.”
The monitor went dark and Tal contacted Captain Taylor to gather all the pilots of the new scouts to meet him in the Brazil’s conference room. Ka listened to Tal issue orders and thought, and so it begins.
• • •
Drum slowly flew his scout through the berserker formations above the defended planet; this was the most dangerous part of his mission. But there were gaps between them and he used the new scout’s air thrusters to slightly change course as he threaded his way through them. He cleared the inner formations and began moving in to toward the three hundred warships holding positions above the planet. This was much easier due to there being huge distances between them and he moved into low orbit above the planet.
His new scout was a remarkable vessel. He could have flown next to a warship and never be detected…but…there was no need to risk it. He moved the scout into the planet’s upper atmosphere and pressed a button on his panel. He stared at it until it turned green. The frozen canister fell into a slot and Drum actually heard it from the front of the scout. He moved the scout into the lower atmosphere and moved up wind from a giant city on the planet’s surface. He stared at his passive scanner and waited until it flashed red. He pressed a red button and flew a straight course over the planet’s surface twenty-five miles out from the city. He pressed the red button again and headed toward the next city. After eighteen hours, he moved into orbit and ejected the frozen canister from his scout. It fell to the planet and burned up on reentry.
It took him twenty days to complete the coverage of the fifteen brotherhood planets he was assigned and then he joined the other scouts at the planets that had been destroyed by the aliens. The Admiral insisted that he was taking no chances on there being possible survivors. Within a month, the mission was completed.
• • •
Weldon left Borgt in his new quarters and he looked around at the living room. These quarters weren’t as nice as his former quarters but there were thousands of senior military officers that arrived with the fleets from the conquered planets that filled those available. Borgt was surprised there were any quarters available at all. He held up his right arm and activated the tiny scanning device Ka had placed in his right hand. He rolled into the bedroom and then to the bathroom. Every room but the bathroom had electronic monitoring devices in them and all of them were active. Jab thought about it and realized that his room must be recorded at all times. He hated it but knew that Weldon was not going to risk him doing something to harm himself. Well, there was no one to talk with this time around and he just had to make sure he played the role of being weak at all times until he could return Borgt’s body back to normal.
He went back to the bedroom and opened the closet. He smiled as he saw the Senior Law Enforcer uniforms hanging up
in front of him. Two of them were smaller than the others. Jab smiled, Weldon wanted to remind him of his former size.
He heard a chime in the living area and rolled the wheelchair out of the bedroom and looked around. He didn’t see anything for a moment and then noticed a flashing light on the refrigerator. He rolled over and suddenly realized that he was being notified to eat something. He shook his head and opened the refrigerator. Well, there was a good selection to choose from. He made a sandwich and slowly ate it as he thought about how to accomplish his mission. He finished the sandwich and then made another. He was hungrier than he thought. He rolled the wheelchair out of the kitchen and then stopped. He stared at the bedroom door and forced himself to stand up. He had to admit he did of good act of struggling to stand up. He slowly stumbled and walked into the bedroom. He fell back on the bed and closed his eyes. He started thinking about his mission but quickly fell into a deep sleep. He hadn’t slept well since arriving at the Holy Planet; there was too much stress wondering if he was going to be discovered by the medical staff. He slept for twelve hours and awakened refreshed. He stood up, walked slowly back to the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator.
• • •
Welden watched the recording of Borgt on his monitor the next day and smiled. He was getting stronger and was starting to eat again. He continued to record Borgt for another week until he walked out of the building for a short walk. Borgt was gaining strength quickly and he stopped the recordings; he was no longer worried that Borgt would take his own life.
• • •
Jab waited until the following week to go to the top of the Creation Building and take the ship assigned to him out to fly around the city and space port. Before lifting, he punched a hole in the backpack and gave it a squeeze. He flew off the top of the building and opened the bay door slightly. He shut down the recording warning the door wasn’t fully closed and he press the backpack repeatedly as he flew over the giant city and spaceport. He saw the giant ship construction buildings below him and decided that was enough for one day. He returned to the building and landed. He punched another tiny hole in the backpack and squeezed it all the way to the elevators.