by J McGovern
‘Thank you, Seraph! Marines, stand by for docking. All the rest of you — to your positions!’ It was hardly a Naval command, she knew, but then a significant part of the crew had little experience in Navy missions.
The Deliverer had a wide docking bay; it was to this that the Marines now made their way, nodding to one another to show their support. A few of them were sweating profusely; they knew how dangerous the mission was likely to be.
‘Now, listen up,’ Lieutenant Jameson said. ‘Remember that our remit is simple. We need to neutralise any enemy forces — human or otherwise — that may be on the station, and reclaim control over the base. You are all armed with sonic rifles; with a bit of luck they will be effective against the Weerms. Sonic blasts will have no effect upon human targets; use the secondary trigger when taking down humans.’
‘Silence on deck!’
Alyce tensed as she stared at the scanner, waiting to assess the situation. Seraph had been ordered to show a close-up view of Station 949 immediately after entering normal space, so instant action could be taken. Luckily, the station was located right on the edge of the system, so there would be little laborious sublight travel involved. The ship left phase space, and within minutes the shape of Station 949 appeared on the scanner. It took Alyce a moment to evaluate what she was seeing; it was so unexpected. There was no sign of any battle. Ozytan’s ship looked undamaged, and there were also many Navy ships in the vicinity of the station. But the situation seemed peaceful.
‘What’s going on, Captain?’ Lieutenant Jameson said, noticing her expression.
‘I don’t know. But we will proceed with the plan. Are your men ready for boarding?’ The Lieutenant nodded. ‘Good luck, everyone.’ She picked up her sonic rifle, and joined the men in the docking bay with Glitz, Tekka and Doland. ‘If any hostile ships are located, helmsman, fire at will. Seraph, can you obtain boarding permission?’
Alyce frowned. It was of great help to them, but it seemed strange. Perhaps the Imperial forces had already won the battle. Either way, they had no choice but to dock and evaluate the situation themselves.
‘Fine. Dock with the station.’
The Deliverer effortlessly docked with the space station, and the Marines stepped into the station first, led by Lieutenant Jameson. The docking chamber was empty, so they proceeded through the ship. They entered a kind of large control room, which was filled with complex machinery. The men had their sonic rifles raised, ready to shoot at any hostile targets.
‘Don’t shoot!’ someone shouted. ‘Mission is completed. I repeat, mission is completed!’
Captain Wickham stared at the scene in the control room; it took a few seconds for her brain to process the full situation. A handful of Marines and Navy officers were holding the control room, and the floor was strewn with bodies. Alyce peered at one of the corpses, which she realised was a dead Weerm. She noticed with some distaste that sticky green blood was pooling beneath it. So it was over. The Weerms had all been killed.
‘Tell your men to stand down, Captain,’ said a deep voice. She smiled when she realised who had spoken. It was Admiral Trenna, who had been leading the fleet.
‘So it’s over?’
The Admiral nodded slowly. ‘It’s over.’
Feeling a little dazed and disoriented, Alyce nodded to the Lieutenant, and he turned to the commandos. ‘Stand down. It looks like the battle’s already been won,’ the Lieutenant said.
Glitz and Doland exchanged a glance; they were both relieved to have avoided the fighting, but it seemed somewhat of an anti-climax. They had both seriously expected a huge battle on arrival, but now it seemed they would not see any action. Glitz stared around at the control room. Bodies were littered everywhere, and both members of the Navy and commandos were standing around.
‘What happened, sir?’ Alyce said slowly.
The Admiral smiled again. ‘When our fleet arrived at the station, we were ready for a full-on fight. All of our ships were armed to the teeth with fission beams, antimatter cannons — all of the most advanced Imperial weaponry. Ozytan must have known that he was overpowered, because we didn’t even get a chance to fire a single shot. As a matter of course, we made contact with the base, ordering the enemy to surrender or we would have to take the base by force. To our surprise, Ozytan capitulated. He accepted all of our terms without a quarrel.’ He paused. ‘Of course, we expected some kind of deceit, but we boarded with the station, ready to fire on any hostile forces. But it was not a trick. Ozytan genuinely surrendered, and we sealed him in a force vault. The Weerms, unfortunately, didn’t think much of Ozytan’s submission, and they tried to attack us, contrary to Ozytan’s orders. But those sonic rifles did the trick — they were superb. Each of the creatures went down with a single blast, and none of our men were killed. Most of the fleet are still on board their ships; I will soon give the order for them to turn back and go home.’
‘That’s … great news, sir,’ Alyce said. She was still finding it hard to take in. It was incredible to think that Ozytan had surrendered. But she couldn’t help thinking that some details were strange. She turned to the Admiral. ‘Sir, would it be possible for me to question the prisoner?’
‘I suppose so, Captain, but why do you wish it?’
‘I have a few … things to clear up, sir,’ she replied vaguely.
The Admiral seemed a little confused, but there was no reason not to allow it. The Captain had proven herself to be a loyal member of the Navy, and Ozytan was safe in his force vault. A human being could not penetrate the energy field without frying every cell in his body.
Captain Alyce Wickham turned to her men. ‘Thank you for being ready for this battle, even though it seems our skills were not required in the end. If we had fought the enemy, I feel sure that you would have acted valiantly.’
‘Yes,’ the Lieutenant agreed, nodding.
‘Come on,’ Alyce said, gesturing for Glitz, Doland and Tekka to follow her. ‘Let’s go and see our old friend.’
A commando, on instructions from the Admiral, led the Captain and the others to the location where Ozytan was being held. He had been placed inside a force vault in a large storage room, which was filled with boxes containing petri dishes and other simple scientific supplies. The room was filled with glowing blue light from the force vault. The devices had been developed nearly a hundred years ago, and as yet, no one had discovered a way to circumvent them. They worked by projecting a field of destructive energy into a concentrated bubble around the captive; although you could technically walk through it, the act of passing through the force membrane would certainly kill you, even if you were wearing the strongest armour in the galaxy. Private individuals and corporations were banned from using them, due to their inherent danger, but the Imperium found them to be a useful tool. Two more ships were on their way to the station — a passenger liner containing a new set of workers for the station, and a prison ship from Varon. Oyztan was to be kept imprisoned until the ship from Varon arrived, and then he would be taken away to be placed on trial.
He smiled when he saw Captain Wickham, Glitz, Doland and Tekka enter the room. He was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the force vault, wearing a grey robe. Despite his defeat, his eyes were still gleaming with the same revolutionary zeal.
‘So … you surrendered,’ Alyce said.
Ozytan nodded. ‘I am no fool. I was outnumbered and outgunned — it was a choice between surrender or death. I will be placed on trial on Varon, and no doubt the Imperial Prosecution Service will seek the death penalty. However, I have money enough to afford some very expensive lawyers, as well as a certain amount of personal legal experience. I think it is safe to say that I will be able to get off with a mere thirty years imprisonment.
’ He smiled wryly. ‘At least I will have my books.’
‘I don’t understand —’ she began, and then paused, marshalling her thoughts into coherent speech. ‘With all the capital you have at your disposal, why did you only have one ship to protect the station? And why did you bring so few Weerms? There can’t be more than a hundred out there dead in the control room. With a bigger army, you might easily have beaten the Imperial fleets. Also, you must have known that the Weerms could be easily defeated — given the right weapons.’
Ozytan tilted his head slightly in the direction of the floor, and said nothing. But he didn’t need to reply. Sometimes, expressing a question out loud has the remarkable effect of causing the brain to process the problem in a different way — or a more efficient way — which has the result of making the answer immediately clear. Alyce stared at Ozytan, realising the truth.
‘You never expected to win,’ she said slowly. ‘And the reason is because you only had a tiny number of Weerms on your side. You tried to give us the impression that you had harvested millions of the creatures from the planet, but in actual fact the majority of the Weerms had killed one another before you could rescue them.’
‘They were too vicious,’ Ozytan admitted. ‘They had no loyalty, even to their own species. By the time I disabled the chrono-disrupter, the majority of the species had been annihilated. The corpses you saw in the control room are the only thing left of my army.’
‘And that’s why you only had one ship,’ Alyce realised. ‘The Weerms couldn’t be trusted to be pilots — and even if they could, you needed them onboard the station for protection. And what human would be insane enough to help you on this impossible mission?’ She paused, staring at Ozytan with a sudden look of disgust. ‘But you never wanted to win, did you? You knew taking the Imperium was impossible. You just wanted to make a name for yourself, to go out in a blaze of glory. In true revolutionary spirit, you wanted to satisfy your own egoism. But you showed yourself to be a coward at the last minute — you backed down from the might of the Imperial Navy. And now you will be remembered as nothing but a weak rogue.’
Ozytan said nothing, and Glitz stared at the man. He understood what Alyce was saying, but some parts of her argument did not seem to ring true. Of course, it was possible that Ozytan had simply been a madman who wanted to generate personal glory, but why? Why would he place himself in such a position of weakness, when the only two possible outcomes were defeat or surrender? Mathematically, his chance of success against the Imperium had been zero. And there was more. The light in Ozytan’s eyes had not gone out. Although his head was bowed slightly, he still retained his composure. He did not seem a man broken by defeat.
And then something inexplicable, and terrible, happened. Doland fell to his knees, as if suddenly experiencing terrible pain. Alyce knelt beside him, her eyes wide with concern. ‘Doland? Doland? What’s the matter?’ He began to convulse violently, and she had to let go of him.
His appearance began to change. His skin began to change colour, and his face was distorted into an uglier shape. Sharp claws shot out from his limbs. His teeth became pointed and vicious. Doland stood up, and hissed angrily. None of them could quite believe what had happened. Before their eyes, he had transformed into a Weerm. And then Ozytan began to laugh within his force vault. Alyce, Glitz and Tekka began to back away from the Weerm slowly, who seemed to be considering his next more. They pointed their sonic rifles at Doland, but none of them wanted to shoot. Until a few seconds before, he had been their friend.
‘What did you do?’ Tekka said coldly.
‘Can you not work it out? You see, I am not beaten, as I had you all believe. I only wanted you to think that I had been defeated. The Weerms had never been intended to be a fighting force — at least not in battle. In fact, it was I who killed the majority of the creatures on the planet Chaos; the sheer number of them was proving to be dangerous.’
‘Then what’s happening?’ Alyce said, staring with terror at Doland, who was slowly advancing on them.
‘You have all overlooked one important fact, and that is the function of this station. If you recall, it houses the Genetic Archive. As a result, it contains a large store of genetic equipment. I have used this apparatus to produce a device of my own, with the assistance of a certain genetics professor who shall remain nameless. Now, the function of Station 949 has been radically altered. It has become one giant transmogrifier!’
Glitz swallowed; he was starting to understand what was happening. The memory of his own transmogrification at the hands of Shaitana was still fresh. That had been a minor change to his DNA, but what if someone tried to cause a bigger change?
‘The transmogrification cloud will radiate out from this station over the course of the next hour,’ Ozytan said proudly. ‘The nanobots contained within the cloud are programmed to pass through the nearest wormhole, using the wormhole network to spread out through the galaxy, activating additional nanobot generator nodes. A third of the human race will be transformed into Weerms!’
‘Why?’ Alyce said, keeping tight hold on her rife with sweating hands. ‘What’s the point of it all?’
‘Don’t you see? With a third of the human race turned into Weerms, there will be anarchy. The creatures will tear apart the Imperium from the inside. There will be no invasion fleet — no war — no battle strategies. Chaos is my only strategy. Every governmental establishment will be utterly wiped out; whole planets will fall into lawlessness; swathes of the remaining human population will die. Finally, the Weerms, in their terrible evil, will turn on one another, and utterly annihilate themselves.’
‘So everyone dies?’ Glitz said.
‘On the contrary. According to my predictions, a small percentage of the human race will survive — most likely through building secret underground dwellings. After the fall of the Weerms, the human race will re-emerge. And, like the new life which grows from the ashes of a forest fire, the shoots of the human race will begin once again to flourish. But the tyranny of the Imperium will be no more, and humans will have a chance to build a better galaxy!’
‘You’re insane!’ Alyce spat.
Ozytan started to laugh again. The Weerm had backed them into a corner. He was still advancing very slowly — but they would be dead within seconds. There was a way to stop the creature, but could she do it? Yes, Alyce thought firmly. It’s either him or us. I have no choice …
But then Doland suddenly turned, and began instead to advance towards the force vault in which Ozytan was sitting. ‘Ozytan,’ he hissed, through jagged teeth, ‘I remember you. I can’t … remember everything … even my name … I don’t remember … but I know you. You did this to me!’
Doland lifted a clawed arm and thrust it into the force vault. It had no effect at all, and he quickly walked through the membrane. Clearly, the technology was not effective against the Weerms, who had a much tougher exterior. Glitz realised what Doland was about to do.
‘No!’ he yelled. ‘We need him! We need him to stop the machine!’
But there was not enough of Doland left in the creature to reason on the matter. He had become an unreasoning, vicious brute — a brute who vaguely remembered that Ozytan was to blame for his transformation. The creature Doland lashed out at Ozytan with a fierce claw, piercing his stomach — his intestines began to unravel …
‘You can’t stop the transmogrifier,’ Ozytan said weakly. ‘I’ve won! The Imperium … the Imperium will fall …’
He collapsed, dead, his innards spilling out onto the ground. Doland picked up the fleshy mass of organs with a clawed hand, and lifted it into his mouth, savouring the taste of fresh blood. It only took less than a minute for Doland to finish the whole corpse, and then there was nothing left of Ozytan. Then, after finishing his starter, Doland climbed through the force vault to get his main course.
‘Doland,’ Alyce said nervously. ‘Doland! It’s us! Your friends!’
But of course it was no use. Doland continued to advance. Gl
itz felt sweat beads forming on his neck and torso, and his forehead was moist. Was this the end? Were they going to be murdered and eaten by their friend? Or were they going to have to kill him? It certainly looked like they only had one of those two options. Tekka kept his exterior calm, but he was just as frightened as the others. They all had their sonic rifles lifted, aimed at Doland. They walked backwards out of the door, exiting the storage room and entering the connected corridor. The Weerm followed them … then it leapt forward … slicing out with its claws …
Alyce fired the sonic rifle. A split-second before the sonic beam touched Doland, he fell forwards onto the floor. Because of his collapse, Alyce assumed that the beam had made contact, and that the weapon had killed him. Doland was lying face forward on the floor. Then he stirred.
‘Doland?’ Alyce said, edging forward carefully, still pointing her sonic rifle.
The man thrust out a hand towards her. It was pale and white — a human hand. Slowly, Doland lifted himself back to his feet. His skin was no longer dark and reptilian; the process had reversed itself, and he was human again. Glitz and Alyce simply stared at him, bewildered. They had assumed that he had gone for good.