by Gregg Vann
Twenty minutes later, a transport docked with the Udek warship and Boe and I went aboard. It had been a long, tenuous wait—trapped on a hostile ship and surrounded by Udek, thirsty for revenge. But my gun, the dead bodies, and Eraz’s orders, provided sufficient motivation for the crew to leave us alone. Nevertheless, the news of Queltz’s death moved quickly through the ship, and the trip back to the docking area was even more uncomfortable than our first journey had been.
I looked back over my shoulder at the soldiers standing in the corridor; they were glaring at us as we exited through the airlock. Their anger was palpable, and I knew they were barely restraining themselves. These Udek had vengeance on their minds and I kept my gun conspicuous. But that was little comfort as they all had weapons of their own.
Those faces said it all, and I knew then that I could never go home again. After today, I would be marked for death on every Udek world and colony. Even if the Special Corp didn’t remove me for security reasons, a reborn Captain Queltz or his extended family might. General Queltz’s murder had provided me with plenty of other enemies in the military as well. No…there would never be peace for me among the Udek. Never again.
Spending the rest of my life waiting for some unknown assailant to strike didn’t appeal to me, and I didn’t want that for Dasi either, but that was an issue for some other time—I already had my hands full thinking my way through this situation.
We cleared the airlock and were escorted aboard the small ship by two, heavily armed, Blenej Red. As was their custom, each held a rifle in their top pair of hands and a club in one of their bottom set—leaving one hand free to push us further into the vessel. These soldiers were equipped for any eventuality, from killing us outright, to simply beating us into submission. But I knew that neither would be necessary. They silently directed us where to stand, and then backed away to watch over us dispassionately as Boe and I removed our masks. The shuttle disconnected and we sped away from the Udek warship—the abrupt departure forcing all four of us to grab onto the flight straps hanging down from the ceiling.
“We will be there in fifteen minutes,” one of the Blenej announced.
“Do you know what happened to Obas?” Boe asked, his voice tinged with desperation.
“You will be briefed on our carrier,” the soldier answered brusquely, offering nothing more. His expression made it clear that further questioning was pointless.
“Does no one care?” Boe asked me, clearly exasperated.
“The fog of war being what it is,” I replied, “it’s more likely that they don’t even know themselves. You should be able to contact the planet directly once we get onboard.”
Boe fell into silence again as I looked past the Blenej and out one of the large portholes behind them. I saw dozens of ships moving through the debris field now, some looking for survivors, others no doubt transferring personnel and supplies for ongoing repair missions. I’d never seen the aftermath of so much destruction before.
There had been many prior encounters with the Brenin—by a few different races—and I’d read all of the after-action reports on the previous Udek engagements, but none of those battles had been on a scale of this magnitude. What I found even more remarkable was the amount of teal hull-pieces mixed throughout the debris…evidence of destroyed Brenin warships. No single species had ever enjoyed such success against the invaders, but working together, we’d been able to prove that they weren’t invincible after all.
I lost the impressive view as we flew inside the huge carrier, setting down on the deck of an immense, well-lit hangar, bustling with activity. There were Blenej everywhere, and although the majority of the crew came from the red, warrior class, I saw representatives from all three segments of Blenej society.
Dozens of fighters were hovering into row after row of tightly spaced landing spots—hurrying to clear room for the tugs hauling in disabled and partially destroyed ships collected from the battlefield. One of the damaged fighters was towed past our window, and I saw what was left of the pilot, still inside it.
A loud, clanking sound, drew my eyes to the back of the shuttle as the entire section opened up, swinging down to transition into a lightly sloped ramp; we all stepped out together onto the flight deck.
“There you are,” I heard. “I knew you’d find some way to survive.”
It was Brother Dyson, standing next to Speaker Lews and Brother Kiva. Several Blenej were with them as well.
The old monk turned to his subordinate. “I told you he’d make it, Kiva. Queltz was right about him.”
Why does everyone keep saying that?
“Speaker Lews!” Boe called out. He broke away from our group and ran over to the Obas leader. “What happened to the planet?”
“Relax, Master Pilot,” Lews replied. “Everything is fine. The Blenej saw the missile launch as soon as they entered the system and sent attack fighters to dispose of them. They destroyed the warheads in mid-air, then used wide-beam plasma fire to burn away any toxin before it could fall into the oceans. It was…quite remarkable.”
One of the Blenej stepped forward. “If Colonel Eraz hadn’t warned us about them when we offered to join the battle, we would have underestimated their potential. My name is Admiral Nezci, leader of the Blenej task force.”
“You have my thanks,” Boe said.
“I have already conveyed the gratitude of all Obas,” Speaker Lews informed him.
“Speaking of which,” I interrupted. “How exactly did this task force come to be at Obas?”
“You can thank Brother Dyson for that,” Nezci replied. “He can be most persuasive.”
“Oh, I am well aware of that,” I replied.
The admiral took a look at my Brenin body and shook his head. “Yes…I can see that you are.”
“I thought a coalition of races might be beneficial,” Dyson explained. “Though I admit, my original thought was to simply protect Bodhi Prime from the looming Brenin attack. We detoured here when I got that most unexpected communication from Speaker Lews. After consulting with him and a few representatives from the other races, I became convinced that none of us could be protected from the Brenin, unless we all are. Despite our differences and frequently incongruent agendas, we need each other. Even working together, it will be difficult to defeat these invaders…if not impossible. But I believe we can do it. I have faith.”
“Faith! Bah!” Colonel Eraz strode out from behind a large fueling pod. “You monks and your ridiculous superstitions.”
“Ah, my favorite non-believer,” Dyson chided her.
She came to a sudden stop in front of me and then leaned in close, giving me a disapproving look. “You!” she exclaimed. “You have made my life very difficult. Must you kill every Queltz you run across?”
“He didn’t give me much of a choice, Eraz.”
“I see,” she said, leaning back to her full height. “His entire crew would like nothing better than to see you dead. And I just got off the comm with Special Corp; they want you as well. For reasons they wouldn’t share with me. In fact, they want you returned to them as soon as possible.”
“Yes…about that, Colonel,” Dyson intervened. “Tien has Bodhi property inside of him. Or rather, he is inside of it.”
“I know that, monk. That chamber’s signal was the only way you found him in this mess.”
“Well, we do like to keep an eye on things; it’s why the soul chamber has a beacon in the first place, weak as it may be. We equip our cyborg bodies with a much more powerful transmitter.” Dyson must have realized he was drifting off topic and returned to the issue at hand. “In any event, you can’t have him until I get my chamber out, back on Prime.”
“Now hold on!” Eraz snapped. “I still need to debrief him; we need the intelligence he’s gathered.”
“Of course, Colonel. Of course. By all means, acquire your information. But afterward,” Dyson made a motion indicating Kiva and himself, “Tien comes with us. I’m sure that I don’t need to remind you of the agreement
between the Bodhi and Udek regarding transference rights and responsibilities—especially as they pertain to our unique intellectual property.”
“Are you a monk, or a lawyer?”
“A monk. But one that knows his contract rights. And I also know with certainty that the Udek Confederation would mete out severe punishment to anyone jeopardizing their access to our cloning and transference facilities.” Dyson stared her in the eyes, as if daring her to challenge him; his voice turned grave. “Get what you need from him, Colonel Eraz, but then Tien is coming back to Bodhi Prime with me.”
Eraz scowled at the old monk, but it was clear she’d gotten the message. “Very well, Dyson. My ship is docked two hangars over. Let’s go, spy.”
She turned to walk away, but I grabbed her shoulder gently and pulled her back around. “Actually, Colonel Eraz, it might be better if I stayed off any Udek ships right now.”
“You may be right,” she admitted reluctantly, then looked over at Nezci. “Admiral, do you have a room I could use to speak with Tien, alone?”
“No. But I do have one that we can use to speak with him together,” Nezci answered. “Brother Dyson, you and Speaker Lews are welcome to join us. I will be relaying anything we learn to the Humans, Iriq, and Volas as well.”
“He is our asset!” Eraz yelled.
“Look around, Colonel,” Nezci replied sternly. “It wasn’t just the Udek that died here today. That information belongs to all of us now…we paid for it in blood.” Several, armed Blenej stationed nearby heard Nezci’s tone and walked over to stand behind their admiral. One of them loudly smacked his club against his own leg.
I saw anger flash across Eraz’s face, and this time it settled in to stay. She was as mad as I’d ever seen her, but helpless as well. The Udek weren’t used to being told what they could or couldn’t do—it was a novel position for her to be in. First there was Dyson and his demands, and now Nezci was forcing her actions. It didn’t matter that the Udek had the strongest fleet in the galaxy—excluding the Brenin of course—that fleet wasn’t here. And even if it were, the Udek couldn’t go to war with everyone.
Eraz had no choice but to concede.
“Very well,” she said acidly. “Let’s get this over with.”
Admiral Nezci led us to a large conference room where we each took a seat around a long table. I watched as several recording devices were produced and placed on its surface, and when I was certain that everyone was ready, I began to speak.
I discussed what I’d learned about the Brenin ships, technology, and culture—described the fight with Marshal Toz and his Veilcat, and then detailed our escape from the armada. They all sat silently as I spoke and I anticipated most of their questions—answering them before they were even asked. I’d been on both sides of a debriefing before, and knew what I needed to say…and what they needed to hear.
They each knew part of the tale, either the beginning of it, like Eraz and Dyson, or the end of it, like Nezci—but none of them knew it all. I shared every detail of every action I’d taken since being reborn in the Brenin body, wrapping up with the events on Queltz’s ship—looking at each of them in turn as I told about the use of grenades against trapped and unarmed Brenin. Eraz offered no apology or explanation for the Udek actions, but the others seemed just as disgusted as I was by the incident. I finished up my story with the death of Captain Queltz, and our timely pick up by the Blenej.
In the end, even Eraz seemed satisfied, particularly when it was decided that the Obas would share the decoded Brenin files with each race present at the battle.
And then it was done. I’d told them everything.
Well…almost everything.
Regardless, my mission was over.
I walked over to where Dyson sat and bent down to whisper in his ear. “Now for your part of our bargain, monk.”
“Of course,” he replied. “We will leave for Bodhi Prime immediately. But first, we have one other passenger to collect.”
Chapter Thirty-One
I woke up on Bodhi Prime.
Not my personality, my soul as the monks believed— transferred into an electronic chamber and housed within a cyborg body. Nor as a reluctant prisoner, trapped inside a Brenin corpse.
No. This time, it was only me: Kiro Tien.
‘I’ woke up on Bodhi Prime.
And Dasi was there to greet me.
“Tien?” she asked hopefully. Her voice… It had been so long.
She hovered over the partially reclined chair where I lay, staring intently at my face. I saw the eyes behind the respirator and knew it was her. She was alive. We both were alive.
“Dasi,” I muttered weakly, trying to sit up—my voice muffled by the mask over my own face. I tasted a familiar mixture of gasses—methane chief among them—confirming that I was back in my own body again.
“Relax,” she said, pushing me back down in the chair. “Give yourself a moment to adjust. The monks have only just finished the transfer.”
“Yes,” I heard Dyson’s voice call out from behind her, “one moment.”
I looked over to see him standing at a work console, adjusting the controls on its flat surface. On the wall in front of him, a small, black cylinder rested inside an elaborate cradle decorated with Buddhist symbols. Several multicolored cables stretched out from the bottom of the device, connecting it to back of the console.
The soul chamber.
I’d been inside that little ebony container.
“I can’t believe you came for me,” Dasi whispered in my ear. “You actually went to Nilot.”
“Of course I did,” I replied. “Did you really think I wouldn’t come?”
“I’d hoped for rescue…dreamed of it even, but…Nilot…” She shook her head side-to-side slowly, and a sadness filled her eyes.
“It didn’t matter where they’d taken you,” I said angrily, and then calmed myself before speaking again. “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you from them, Dasi.”
“Sorry? Don’t be ridiculous! They were supposed to be protecting me!”
“I was on my way to get you after I quit the mission,” I explained, desperate to justify my actions. “I suspected they might do something. But I was too late.”
She smiled widely and the expression pushed the respirator out from her face. A little wisp of colored gas escaped, dissipating quickly into the air. “That is all in the past, my love. Now, we need only concern ourselves with the future.”
“It’s an uncertain one,” I admitted.
I was felt stronger now, and tried again to pull myself up with the armrests, this time managing to sit all the way forward. The back of the chair tilted upright in response, and the footrest dropped slightly before disappearing into the base. I tried squinting to improve my vision, but soon realized that there was nothing wrong with my sight. I just no longer enjoyed the heightened Brenin senses I’d grown accustomed to. Compared to how I’d seen before, my normal vision was like looking through murky water.
And I was perfectly fine with that.
I noticed that I was in the same chair where I’d awoken after being transferred into Seeris’ body, and then saw him lying dead still on a table next to me. Uli was standing beside her brother, meticulously inching a diagnostic scanner over his entire length. I watched as she reset the device and started scanning his head.
“Is he going to live?” I asked.
“Yes, but no thanks to these backward monks. If I hadn’t been here when they removed that wretched machine of theirs he would have certainly died.”
“That is why we brought you with us from Obas,” Dyson replied, ignoring Uli’s insults. He shut down the console and walked over to join us.
“I never did ask you how you managed that,” I said to Dyson. “Certainly Eraz wanted to keep her for questioning…and study.”
“Barbarians.” Uli spat out the familiar refrain.
“Oh, they want her alright,” Dyson said. “They want you as well. In fact, they want all of yo
u. There is an Udek warship in low orbit now, waiting to take you all back to the Confederation.”
“I’m not going back,” I replied, then hopped off the chair to search the room for a suitable weapon and expedient exit.
Dyson read my intent and held his arms out straight in front of me. “Please…calm down, Tien. You’re not going with the Udek. No one is. I keep my bargains.” When he was confident that I’d relaxed somewhat, he strode over to the wall and hit a comm switch. “Please locate Master Pilot Boe and send him to the lab.”
“At once, Brother Dyson,” a voice replied.
Boe? He wasn’t on the trip with us back to Bodhi Prime.
Seeris stirred next to me and started coughing, then he sat up and his eyes darted around the room. Uli helped him as he rose to stand next to the table. It was strange to watch that body move from the outside—see it become animate without my input or direction. It was almost as if the Brenin were still me, and now I was trapped inside this strange body.
After assessing his new environment and figuring out what had happened, his eyes came to rest on me. “I should kill you for what you’ve done to the Yano, Udek.”
“You are welcome to try, Seeris,” I answered defiantly, and then guided Dasi behind me to protect her.
But instead of attacking, the Brenin leaned back against the table to steady himself and looked at Uli. “You saved my sister, Tien. For that reason alone, I’ll let you live.”
I allowed his empty bravado to pass unchallenged. He was weak, and still injured. There was no doubt in my mind that I could kill him. But the ability to kill, and the desire to do so, must join together to take a life. And those two aspects of my nature resided far apart in me now.
I turned to Dyson. “I’m surprised to find myself in my own body, monk. I expected to wake up in some cyborg, preparing to make amends for all of my many sins.”
“You have suffered enough, Tien.” Dyson flashed a sympathetic smile and gestured at Dasi. “You both have.”
The door opened and Boe walked into the laboratory. He looked at Seeris first, and then me. A confused expression spread across his face and he turned to Brother Dyson for help. The old monk smiled and pointed in my direction, and then the Obas approached us, acknowledging Dasi with a nod before speaking to me.