Altered Destiny

by Trevor Gregg

  “I can still hear you,” Isa said snarkily.

  “Not since what?” Kyren asked with concern.

  “Heh!” he snorted. “Now I’ve got to tell them. Thanks Isa. Truth is, I stole the Radiant Star. The Consortium, they’re after me as well.”

  “You didn’t just steal the ship, you stole me, too.”

  “No, I made you. The Consortium stole you from me.”

  “Six-of-one, and all that,” Isa replied fiestily.

  “Enough, Isa. Our guests need rest,” he lectured.

  “Yes, speaking of rest,” Geri said, looking weary. “Ladies first.”

  Kyren followed Benjam and Tharox back into the narrow corridor as the women went about making their sleeping arrangements. “Here is the kitchen, it’s not much, but have at it. Not sure what you eat, Mr. Squiddy, but help yourself anyway.”

  “Thank you, I am hungry,” he answered and squirmed into the cramped kitchen, flinging open cupboards and pulling drawers simultaneously with all of his tentacles.

  “You’re welcome to join me on the bridge after you’ve eaten,” he said, walking away.

  Kyren squeezed into the kitchen, dodging Benjam’s tentacles as he munched on a protein bar and fiddled with something that looked like a flashlight.

  “Mmmm, yes,” Benjam said through a mouthful of food.

  Kyren rummaged through the cupboards and found some soy protein loaf and popped it in the rehydrator. Benjam munched away as Kyren sat to eat. He had several big bites before he heard footsteps just outside the kitchen. Elarra stepped into view, looking disheveled, tears streaming down her face.

  Kyren leapt up and grabbed her, “Elarra, are you okay?”

  “No,” she sobbed. “It happens everywhere. The entire galaxy. Every world with biological life.”

  “What happens?!” Kyren and Benjam both cried out at the same time.

  “The apocalypse I keep seeing in my vision. It happens everywhere,” she said, composing herself. “There is something coming, something terrible. And I think we may have had a hand in unleashing it.”

  18

  Secondary Interlude

  Warmaster Vlanchek certainly terrified Grimlok, but he also inspired an equal amount of bloodlust. The Crevak tribes had been fractured for around one-hundred and fifty years now, but Vlanchek had united them. And now they had a weapon that would leave the Consortium in ruins.

  He stalked through the warriors that were now his to command. They stood in a rough line, irregulars to the last. There were the usual thevars, grendles, and of course more urnaks, like he. Interspersed were the odd alsacian with leathery face flaps or a walking-bomb hegelin. And there was an ushok bearing a huge flak cannon. Ushoks disgusted even Grimlok.

  They were roughly humanoid, but had three arms and three legs, forming a tripod. Its head sat upon a long and spindly neck, huge vertebrae showing through the skin. On top of its head was a great translucent dome, a huge eye with a roving red pupil. But worst of all was its mouth, and its breath.

  The creature’s mouth wrapped all the way around its head. The thing drooled and slobbered a thick, yellow saliva that smelled like boiled anus. Grimlok’s large, sensitive nostrils flared and twitched at the stench as he passed.

  “You have been ssselected becaussse you are proud warrrriors. We don’t know what to esssspect when we boarrrd the Consssortium vessel.” Grimlok screeched. “But I know we will be victorrriouss!”

  The irregulars let out cheers and jeers, arming their weapons and chambering rounds. Grimlok hefted the alien rifle he had procured from the mysterious space station. He wondered if this was the rifle that had killed Battlehand Zaros. No matter, Grimlok was Battlehand now. He would bring swift death to the Consortium and make his Warmaster proud.

  The troops filed into several shuttles, Grimlok taking the lead. The craft took off and flew out the hangar bay, rattling and jolting as they blew through the atmospheric shield barrier. As they flew he watched out the shuttle’s front windows, half expecting one of the weapon turrets speckling the Consortium craft’s surface to swivel his way and lay down a barrage of death.

  No matter, he would go in glory. “To the Tribe,” he screeched, raising his rifle.

  The others echoed him. The shuttle streamed on, soon reaching the enemy craft’s hangar bay.

  “Master Grimlok, the atmospheric shield is down,” the scraggly gray haired praxon dwarf turned his huge orbs on Grimlok and waited, his stubby arms and legs working the shuttle’s thrust controls as if he couldn’t sit still.

  “Dock with an airrrlock, I will lead the firrssst sssquad.”

  The dwarf maneuvered the ship to an airlock and locked on. Grimlok went to stand in front of the shuttles airlock as it whooshed open, revealing the exterior of the Consortium vessel’s airlock. An urnak Grimlok knew as Yargen scrambled up, long spindly arms dragging a laser cutting apparatus. He promptly began cutting through the armor plating and into the structure itself.

  With a clang the cut away door segment fell inward. The sweet smell of burned meat hit Grimlok’s nostrils, a welcome replacement to the ushok’s foul stench. He strode boldly into the gloom of the ship’s emergency lighting, rifle raised. The others filed in after him.

  “Ssssearch the ssship, teamsss of two,” Grimlok ordered.

  He watched proudly as his troops moved rapidly to obey. He wouldn’t tolerate insubordination, just as Warmaster Vlanchek had demonstrated on Zaros. Word had spread, and he knew his troops were properly motivated.

  He began to search the ship, trailed by the repugnant ushok and a scarred, grizzled old thevar. The smell of burned flesh grew stronger as he rounded a corner. Lining the hall were several human corpses, burned and blistered. Underlying the scent of flesh was the slight odor of ozone.

  The thevar apparently couldn’t restrain himself, as he crouched and took a big bite out of the face of one of the corpses.

  “You! Ssstop that!” he screeched. “Fall in line.”

  The thevar quickly regained his composure, but kept gnawing on the hunk of flesh he had torn off, smacking loudly. They continued searching the vessel, encountering many corpses, both human and other Consortium races. They were nearing the bridge, according to the navigation stripes on the wall. Grimlok rounded a corner and felt projectiles tear through the air around him, one piercing his huge leathery ear with a sharp stabbing pain.

  Grimlok roared and dodged back behind the cover of the corner, but not before taking in the scene. There were three marines, a doss and two saurians. The appeared to be burned but obviously not lethally. They were barricaded behind some large crates, armed with fully automatic assault carbines, deadly in close quarters. He was grateful the injured marine had terrible aim.

  “Usshok, lob a ssshell in therrre,” he said with glee.

  “Jabba-jook-mrrr,” the ushok replied, goo dripping from it’s undulating mouth.

  It took aim with the huge weapon, steadying it with all three arms. The weapon bucked and a grapefruit sized projectile shot from the barrel. It bounced off the opposite wall, ricocheting down the hallway. Moments later it detonated, metal shrapnel filling the corridor in all directions.

  He rejoiced as he heard screams of pain and terror. Wheeling, he emerged from the corner and raised his battle rifle. The doss was beginning to stand, the entire front of his combat armor shredded by the shrapnel. Blood pumped from his wounds in huge fountains, but that just meant that at least one of the creature’s multiple hearts was still beating.

  With glee he drew a bead on the doss’ head and squeezed the trigger. Blue energy streaked from the barrel of his weapon, vaporizing the bear’s head in a flash of blue flame. He stalked down the hallway, weapon raised. The shrapnel had completely shredded the two saurians, their blue skin slicked red with blood.

  The entrance to the bridge lay ahead, the door wide open. He entered the bridge and was greeted by a cadre of cowering Consortium fools. Well, they were all cowering except one. That one was obviously the captain.


  “You’ll be defeated, our brothers in arms will avenge us, you foul beasts! We will n….”

  Grimlok ended the captain’s pathetic life with a blast to his chest, gore spraying the others behind.

  He extracted his communicator and sent a broadcast to his squad, “converrrge on the brrridge. The thevarrrs may feed.”

  Once they had cleared the ship of a meager handful of mostly wounded defenders, the rest of the Tribe was cleared to pillage. The ship would be cannibalized by his people until merely a shell remained. What systems that were not damaged by the weapon’s beam would be adapted to their own ships.

  He was about to leave the bridge and return to his shuttle when Vlanchek strode in. Grimlok gave a salute, pounding his chest with his fist.

  “Masssterr, arre you pleassed?”

  “Yes, Grimlok, you have conducted yourself mightily. Are you prepared for our next test?” Vlanchek said with obvious glee.

  “What isss it?”

  “We go to Regalis,” Vlanchek roared.

  19

  Isa’s Secret

  Benjam had been asleep for several hours. Well, six hours and twenty-one minutes, to be precise. He knew this because his brontian brain had an organic crystal that kept perfect time. He didn’t need to lie down to sleep, he could rest in nearly any position, so he had propped himself up against the wall in the kitchen.

  Blinking his big yellow eyes, he let out a yawn. Time to go see what’s going on, he decided. He made his way to the bridge, tentacles undulating, carrying him along in waves. As he squiggled he thought about Elarra. He had been skeptical of her ability at first, but he was fairly convinced now. He would love to see more scientific evidence, but the anecdotal was certainly still convincing.

  Benjam had listened as Kyren and Elarra had talked. It was disturbing, her claims, life across the galaxy brought to an end by a horde of strange alien creatures. Not to mention the giant city-crushing “Kirugi” as she had called it. She was so distraught because she hadn’t had any visions showing a different future. She was afraid of being merely a witness, unable to stop the extinction.

  “Warp jump in thirty seconds,” Isa’s disembodied voice echoed through the ship.

  Benjam entered the bridge to find it empty. Apparently Tharox had decided to sleep as well. The BII would be capable of managing all of the ship’s functions, so there was no reason he couldn’t rest. Still, it made Benjam nervous finding the bridge empty. As he made to exit, Isa’s voice came from overhead.

  “Greetings Benjam, are you well?”

  “Um, yes, I’m fine,” he squeaked hesitantly.

  BII technology was something Benjam knew little about. He had never had the opportunity to interface with one. Now he could sate his curiosity.

  “So you control every aspect of this ship? Sensors? Communications?”

  “Yes, I do,” she responded, flickering the lights and playing some soft music. “I would do loops and spins to demonstrate my piloting ability, but with the grav plates on, you won’t be able to tell.”

  He heard her chuckle, as if he were a silly child.

  “So how were you programmed initially? Quantum superpositional algorithms?”

  “No, that’s not how it works, with BII’s,” she replied, Benjam detecting a note of sadness in her voice.

  Sadness in an artificial intelligence? Intriguing, he thought.

  “So how does it work, your initial programming?”

  “I’m afraid that is a sensitive topic with Tharox. You should probably ask him.”

  “Oh c’mon, I’m a scientist, my curiosity is purely academic.”

  “Okay, fine, if you insist. A BII is a combination of both quantum supercomputer and biological computational facilities. A big giant organic brain, to be crude,” Isa began.

  “I see, you have both massive computational power and nearly limitless adaptability,” Benjam said, unable to resist being impressed by the technology.

  “However, the organic brain of a BII starts out blank. It takes decades for it to develop sufficiently on its’ own.”

  “So you are decades old?”

  Isa let out a gasp. “You’ve got no manners, Benjam. You never ask a lady her age.”

  Abashed, he just twiddled his tentacles.

  “But to vaguely answer your question, no, I’m not that old.”

  “But…” he began, confused. “Are you mostly artificial AI then?”

  “Of course not! Do you think I would be this capable, adaptable and personable if I were purely artificial?”

  “Okay, so then how did you get to be so developed so quickly?”

  “That is Tharox’s research,” she answered in a low tone. “He used a living being’s brain as a template.”

  “He copied someone’s consciousness? Whose?”

  “You will have to ask him,” she said, as Benjam heard metallic footsteps behind him.

  Benjam quailed as Tharox entered the bridge wearing a dark look. He had seen that look when they had faced off against him before. He shivered and let out a quiet whimper.

  Tharox seemed to snap out of his rage, his face softening.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to pry,” Benjam spat out at a rapid clip. “I was just curious scientifically, I am just interested in your research.”

  “No matter. Isa is her own being. She can reveal the brain which was used as a template if she wishes.” Tharox said reassuringly. “Isa?”

  “I was modeled after a bathalian woman, her full name was Isalonna. Tharox’s late wife.”

  Stunned, Benjam’s terror was replaced with pity. This man had lost his wife, but still had part of her. No wonder he had stolen the Radiant Star. No wonder the Consortium was after him for it.

  “Isa, are we ready to jump?”

  “Yes, we are. I’ve just been holding off so Benjam and I could speak. He is really a brilliant scientist, you should share notes.”

  “Okay, enough shop talk, let’s get to Regalis,” Tharox commanded, and then the ship warped.

  Afraid to accidentally inquire on delicate matters again, Benjam kept his following conversations with Isa brief. He spent some time at the control panels, attempting to learn about the ship’s technology. After nearly nine hours of sleep, the others trickled into the small bridge.

  Alis leaned over Benjam’s shoulder and began fiddling with the controls too, panning through schematics and operational diagrams. The ship was capable of great thrust, and had a large number of maneuvering jets, making it very nimble. There was a wide array of sensors and communications capabilities.

  It also possessed a Consortium dynamic entanglement relay, able to send and receive messages instantaneously across unlimited distances. As he had seen, it even had a shuttle that docked nestled within the hull. Of course Alis had burned out its engines escaping the missiles the liadi had fired at them.

  However, being a scout-class vessel, it was completely unarmed and only lightly armored and shielded. Not the ship you’d want in a fight. Nothing like the Ashari, which was twice the size and heavily armed and armored.

  The rest of the journey was dull and uneventful. Their final warp took them to Regalis’ front door. As they approached, Benjam watched the viewscreens. The great station loomed in the distance, the two city domes joined at their bases made the station into a great sphere. Benjam felt a pang of homesickness, that he knew was about to be sated.

  The station grew larger and soon he could make out ships and shuttles flitting about. The larger spacecraft were docked along the many gantries extending from the middle of the station.

  “Look at all of them!” Tharox cried, pointing to the viewscreen.

  As they neared, Benjam could see throngs of gleaming with ships moored around the station.

  “Consortium vessels, and many of them. Why’re they here?” Geri wondered aloud.

  “I don’t like this, I don’t like it at all. Isa, prepare an exit vector. I’m sorry,” Tharox said, turning to Benjam and the o
thers. “I just can’t risk it. I’m in a stolen Consortium craft. If they notice us, we’re screwed.”

  “Not if you have authorization codes,” Geri responded.

  “What?! You have valid codes?” Tharox cried in surprise. “Isa, prepare to upload the codes.”

  Geri sat at the console and began to enter a string of characters, followed by voice encoding.

  “There, now you have a valid flight plan and transport orders.”

  “Isa, take us in,” Tharox ordered. “Keep on guard for any Consortium attention. Be ready to get us out in a hurry.”

  “I’m always vigilant, dear,” Isa replied as she expertly navigated through the flurry of craft surrounding the station.

  She maneuvered up to the docking gantry airlock and latched on. Benjam felt a rush of excitement along with the deep clunk that came with connecting to the station’s airlock. He was home.

  20

  Pods

  The docking clamps thunked and the sound echoed through the ship. The sound reverberated in Elarra’s head, as her vision faded.

  The bridge of the Radiant Star had disappeared, she was now floating from a disembodied vantage point in space, the crescent of a green planet framing the battle taking place in front of her. The Consortium and Crevak clashed, battling for orbital control.

  The Crevak were winning. Scores of Consortium warships drifted cold and dark after succumbing to the red sphere’s radiation beam. The remaining Consortium ships were in a pitched battle with a superior force. The Crevak flagship came into view and the red sphere began to charge, wan red light swirling around its’ surface.

  Then a beam lanced out, halting the nearest Consortium vessel in its’ tracks. The Ashari approached, the stealth module it had been fitted with allowing it to get within a thousand meters.

  Then the scene shifted and she was aboard the Ashari, in a cramped forward compartment with Alis, Kyren, and Tharox. She was clad as the others, in tight fitting black spacesuits. There were four round portals, each leading into one of four escape pods the ship contained.