Resolute Uprising (The War for Terra)

by James Prosser

  Planet Kaya

  Diamond Sole hung from an attached umbilical connection just below the larger bulk of Phanoi. The larger vessel was a segmented cargo carrier formerly owned by a slave runner. After her capture, the big ship’s computers had been scoured for information about the Ch’Tauk. The information had led the Diamond Sole and her captain to one of the more distant Earth colony worlds. While Phanoi had become a familiar site over the enslaved world, Diamond Sole needed to hide under the long string of cargo containers.

  Lee Pearce sat forward in the wide captain’s chair on the command deck. He was staring at the blue-green world on the wide holographic projection. To his eyes, it looked close enough to Earth to make his heart ache. He could just make out the wide plains on the northern continent which reminded him of home. In the last few years, he had tried not to think of the ranch where he had grown up. His family was so distant a memory now and he wondered whether his memories were just dreams.

  Between the Phanoi and the planet, a small armada was orbiting the world. Of the planets that Terrans had colonized, Kaya had been one of the most heavily populated. Its chief export being food and basic technology items, Kaya had always been the world most like an older Earth. The Ch’Tauk had invaded the world quickly. Not expecting an attack on any of its territories, the Confederacy had not bothered to post more than just a planetary guard on Kaya. It now looked, however, like the Ch’Tauk were becoming wary of attack and had increased its presence around this world.

  Two ships, destroyer analogs, moved away from the pack and began to approach the freighter. Lee could feel his hands begin to sweat as the larger ships approached. If it came to a firefight, neither Phanoi nor Diamond Sole could put up much of a defense against a fully ready warship. He secretly prayed that their plan would get them where they needed to be without incident. He had no option to call for back-up.

  A crackly of static announced a signal from the incoming ships. Lee had his communications officer route the signal through the translation matrix developed by the alien Tuxor. The static began to settle and a whistling, chirping series of sounds echoed across the bridge. It took a few seconds for the matrix to catch up. A pleasant, deep voice began to replace the clicks and noises from the overhead speaker.

  “…prepare to be boarded by order of the Ch’Tauk Primero. We repeat; power down your engines. State the nature of your business in Ch’Tauk space and prepare to be boarded by order of the Ch’Tauk Primero…”

  “Signal the Lee ordered. “Tell them to begin the operation now.”

  “Aye, Sir,” replied the communications officer.

  There was a pause as they listened to the message cycling again. It snapped off as the transmitter began sending a return message to the enemy ships. Lee hoped that the matrix worked as well in both directions.

  “Ch’Tauk vessel, this is the freighter Phanoi. We are en-route to the Ch’Tauk home world and are in need of escort. We will stand down and await boarding parties.”

  After Lee and his men had captured the slave freighter on Gomus, they had scoured the ship’s data system. Although they had not discovered the location of the enemy world, they had discovered the route to it. The freighter’s former captain had transported merchandise to the enemy home world on many occasions and the records were still stored. Apparently, though, each time they returned, the Ch’Tauk would wipe the navigational data from the computer. It left Lee with no option but to request aid from the alien invaders.

  The warships separated and took up positions on either side of the freighter. The Phanoi was long and segmented with a stocky command module in the front. From the front, the ship was pear-like with a narrow, rounded top that expanded out to a fat bottom. There was a narrow strip of sensors along the top of the pear that resembled a window. At the stern, umbilical connections dragged a train of freight containers through space. It was a strange arrangement of engines and containers, but functional for transporting large amounts of cargo. In this case, the cargo was slave humans.

  “So,” came a voice by the door. “How is this plan supposed to work? Are you just going to ask nicely if the all-human crew here can follow them all the way home?”

  Lee turned to see Eddie Chang leaning on a crutch inside the door. The man was bandaged with part of his face obscured. The familiar lines of Commodore Chang’s face were echoed in the man’s face, but with a much harder edge. It was a shattered mirror image of the commodore that looked back at Lee.

  “Something like that.” Lee responded. “Jackal is made up to resemble one of the Phanoi’s crew. Once they board the freighter, Wellick is going to try to get on board and hack the system. If we can get the coordinates for the Ch’Tauk home world, we can get all of you home.”

  “And if they don’t buy it?” Chang responded. “Or if your little piggy can’t access the system?”

  “Mister Wellick is one of the most capable men I have ever known.” Lee said, turning on Chang. “If he can’t get the Intel, then it can’t get found.”

  “I don’t see why you couldn’t send one of us over,” Chang answered, looking out at the planet. “Your doctor is pretty good with a make-up kit.”

  Lee walked to the other man. He put his hand on Chang’s arm and turned him away from the bridge monitor. The other man bristled as Lee’s hand pressed him to turn. He shrugged off the hand but turned anyway. There was anger on Chang’s face as Lee faced him directly.

  “Mister Chang,” Lee started. “I respect what you have gone through over the past few years but I won’t have you talking about my crew like that.”

  “You have no idea what I have been going through, Captain.” Chang said through clenched teeth. “I asked about you when I was in sickbay. I know you spent the first three years after the invasion on a luxury cruise with civilians. You weren’t there when it happened. You ran away and hid from the Ch’Tauk while I was beaten and tortured in a work camp!”

  Lee tried to keep his eyes steady as Chang’s voice began to carry. He had questioned his actions every day on board the Terran Princess. He wanted to fly out and try to save the humans who were left behind. It took months to accept that he was needed more on the cruise ship as its protector. He still woke at night in a sweat wondering if he could have done more during those years. He imagined what the galaxy would be like if he had not rescued Melaina Petros and the escaped prisoners two years ago.

  “Don’t you tell me that you know what I went through, Captain!” Chang continued. “You don’t have a clue what life has become back on Earth. You could not imagine what they have turned our home into!”

  “Mister Chang,” Lee said, barely controlling himself. “I would like to ask you to leave the bridge, now. I think you need time to rest and recover.”

  “I’ve rested for long enough, Pearce,” said the survivor. “I want to get out there and zap some bugs.”

  “Please don’t make me call security, Mister Chang.” Lee said, anger rising in his voice. “I don’t want to explain to your brother why I brought you back in chains.”

  Eddie looked at Lee. For the first time, the man seemed to focus back on Lee as a real man and not someone to hate. Lee had told him about his brother when he had awoken. Eddie had seemed startled to hear his brother was still alive. During his captivity, he had created an elaborate fantasy that his brother would come to get him. After three years, he had finally given up and accepted the reality. Finding out his brother was still alive had seemed to snap him into coherency.

  Eddie turned and left the bridge. The heel of the crutch made a metallic clank at each step. As the doors slid shut and the sound Lee took a deep calming breath. The man had touched on a raw wound in Lee. He could forgive him his anger, though. He could not understand what terrors the younger Chang had endured in the last five years. He only hoped that others on Earth still held out hope for rescue.

  “Captain,” said Goldstein. “They are beginning the docking procedure.”

  Lee turned back to the screen and watc
hed as the destroyer pulled closer to the freighter. So far, they did not seem to be concerned with the smaller ship clinging to the belly. Lee hoped that their luck held out.

  There was a jolt as the two ships mated along the side. The freighter’s segments wavered as the contact pushed them to one side. The Diamond Sole swayed along with the container it was attached to. Stabilizing thrusters pushed the containers back into line and steadied Lee’s nerves. The bulk of the destroyer was immense at this distance. Sweat beaded on the palms of Lee’s hands as he waited for word from the Phanoi.

  “Jackal reports umbilical is secure, Captain.” Goldstein announced. “Agent one is ready.”

  Not wanting to alert the enemy to his presence, Wellick had decided on a close wave pulse generated directly from an implant under his skin to alert the Sole to his status. Since the pulse was simpler than a normal communications radio, it was only able to send ones and zeroes. Lee had decided to call his man Agent One after Wellick objected to being called Zero.

  “Hold position. All we can do now is waiting.” Lee said.

  He sat back down in his command chair and let out a long breath. The confrontation with Chang had left him feeling hollow. He knew that the truth was much more complicated, but Eddie’s black and white viewpoint made Lee think in simpler terms. Was the Alliance a product of his actions or the result of his inaction?

  “Captain, the Ch’Tauk are aboard Phanoi.” Goldstein said. “Jackal reports only ten troops have entered, but more are waiting at the umbilical. No word yet from One.”

  “Hold us tight,” Lee said softly. “We’ll know very quickly if this is where we win or where we lose.”

  He sincerely hoped they won.

  22

  Wellick clung to the inside of the umbilical connection upside down. He had taken up the position just after the airlock door had cycled open and now began to feel his thick arms trembling with the strain. He had watched as Ch’Tauk warriors filed through the connection and into Phanoi. The little guard was wearing a radiation absorbing suit designed by one of the scientists on Perigee to absorb light in all forms. While a human looking at the outfit would see only black; Ch’Tauk double eyes would not see anything at all.

  Finally releasing his hold on the inside of the tube, Wellick fell to the flexible decking below. His soft boots cushioned the impact and quieted the noise of his landing. There were warriors stationed inside the door at both intersection, but he was only concerned with one. He needed to sneak past the guards on the Ch’Tauk side and find a data terminal that he could hack.

  With the suit tugged into place across his broad shoulders and his mask in place, Wellick appeared like a short moving wall. He would be able to walk past the Ch’Tauk guards if he was quiet, but he was not sure the suit worked as flawlessly as the egg-heads said. The Ch’Tauk visual range was broader and the suit could still be exposed if an exotic form of lighting was used on the ship.

  Wellick crept carefully towards the Ch’Tauk destroyer. His information, provided by Tuxor before they left, stated that even the Ch’Tauk destroyer class was not heavily populated. The crew complement was only a few hundred on these patrol missions. If they were on a war footing the ship would have hundreds more of what Tuxor called ‘Centurions’ on board as crew and ground support. Captain Pearce was taking a gamble that things were just quiet enough to give them a manageable crew.

  As Wellick approached the entrance, he could smell the odor that he always associated with the enemy. It was a woody, bitter scent that they used as a form of communication. Humans did not seem to pick up on the scent but Wellick’s larger sinus cavities detected faint differences in the scent. He guessed that there were multiple guards based on the strength of the scent. He could detect at least four unique smells and maybe two more.

  Tricking he guards into looking the other way was not going to be as easy as throwing rocks down a hall. The Ch’Tauk did not make a move unless they were ordered to. He could throw a grenade down the hall and not attract these guards. Wellick needed to get a better sense of what the situation was. He pulled two small spheres from a pouch at his waist. Carefully placing them on the floor, he rolled the spheres into the hall beyond the door. The spheres were coated in a compound that kept their movement nearly silent.

  Inside the blank mask that Wellick wore, a small projection opened. Wellick looked out at the hallway from the perspective of the spheres. A carefully crafted binocular presentation gave him a clear view of the eight guards stationed outside the umbilical. Wellick sniffed a little, deciding to blame the miscount on the air filtration in the mask.

  There were no centurions standing directly opposite the open umbilical tube. There three to either side of the opening facing the umbilical. Two more guards were standing to either side of the door. If he tried to overpower any of the aliens, he would be caught by the seven remaining guards. He would have to try more subtle procedures to get past the Ch’Tauk.

  Bracing himself, he sprung forward into the breach. As he landed, he rolled in to the hallway and back onto his feet. He kept low and stifled the grunt that threatened to reveal his presence. He held perfectly still for a long moment as he found himself surrounded by Ch’Tauk centurions. After several long breaths, he realized that they were perfectly still. They had not noticed his entrance. Scanning the area with his own eyes and the sphere projections.

  He had spent time inspecting the captured Ch’Tauk prison ship that had brought Melaina Petros and the others to the Terran Princess two years ago. The ship’s natural lighting was darker than human standard. There was a faint purplish hue to the bulkheads that he assumed brightened the ship in Ultraviolet. He switched the mask enhancements to match and the ship leapt into bright relief. The normally black color of the Ch’Tauk bio-armor became brighter and more intricately decorated. The armor was a part of their bodies and Wellick guessed that the swirls and designs were like fingerprints on humans.

  Carefully, Wellick stepped towards the three centurions to the left. The warriors carried nasty looking plasma rifles at the ready. He was nearly a meter shorter than the nearest guard and that put him below their familiar weapon aim. He crept silently closer to the enemy soldier. If he moved closer to the wall, they might notice a shadow moving against the light. He decided the best way to get by was to slip between two of the nearest guards.

  Slowly, Wellick turned sideways and slipped by the guard. As he passed, he brushed the armor of the guard in front of him. He waited but there was no response from the centurion. Wellick did not allow himself the luxury of exhaling until he had gotten fully beyond the guards. He drew his leg beyond the guard and stood perfectly still. There was a faint odor that seemed nervous to him. Wellick hoped that he read the scent wrong and the guards were not alerted to his presence.

  Continuing down the hall, Wellick looked for a computer interface. He needed to get out of the main hall and out of sight of the guards. Blinking in code, he called up the theoretical design of the interior of the enemy ship. The Elves had provided schematics for the Alliance several months ago for the humans to analyze. Wellick never expected to use it actually sneak onto one of the ships.

  Wellick found a door and tried pressing his palm to the panel. It did not budge. He knew his mission would be doomed if he could not figure out how to open a door. He was far enough away that the guards would not notice the opening door, but he preferred not to chance it. He continued down the corridor until it split into a cross path. There were two Ch’Tauk walking towards him and he pulled back into cover. The two turned and headed down the corridor that Wellick had just travelled. They stopped at the door Wellick had tried and one slid a finger down the panel. The door opened and they entered. If the readout in Wellick’s mask read true, that room was a secondary sub-system room. It would have been an ideal place to try to infiltrate the computer but he knew that it was occupied now.

  There was another room just ahead to the right. Wellick checked around the corner and saw no more centurions.
He stepped into the hall and quickly walked to the door. The room was listed as a waste reclamation sub-system room. If Ch’Tauk were anything like most species, this would be a room no one wanted to stay in for long. He tried sliding his finger down the pad but nothing happened. Another attempt resulted in the same results. Finally, he looked around the hall before pulling the short glove away from his skin. He was exposed now. If it had been explained correctly, he would now look like a floating hand to any passing Ch’Tauk. He slid his finger down the panel and waited for an alarm. Instead, the door opened onto a small room with a vicious odor.

  Wellick was not sure what the Ch’Tauk ate, but it was obvious that they digested food in a similar way as others. There was no one in the room as he had expected. He assumed Ch’Tauk pheromone detection was too sensitive to this room for the average centurion to stay here long. He quickly stepped into the foul room and slid the door shut.

  Wellick pulled the glove back on his hand. The room was small but there were pipes and filters positioned around the space that a centurion could be hiding behind. He stood still again, waiting to see if anyone would investigate the magically opening door. After a moment, he knew he was alone. The little spy relaxed as much as he dared. He code-blinked an increase in the mask filtration system to counter the odor of Ch’Tauk waste.

  He walked to the nearest computer panel and took out a small device from his pouch. The translation matrix would link to the Ch’Tauk computer system and provide Wellick with a way to understand the symbols scrolling across the screen. Wellick fixed the device to the screen and pressed it on. A series of letters and numbers began to organize them into something more recognizable. Wellick watched the analysis of waste materials as it scrolled across the screen. Ch’Tauk ate raw meat and exotic flora, apparently. It made the odor more understandable.

  Wellick tapped some keys on the small device, calling up less mundane information about the destroyer and its status. He scrolled past passenger and crew manifests. As the device translated, it was storing vast amounts of data on a quantum drive. He assumed all of the data could be sorted later for relevancy. Wellick attempted to call up navigational data from the computer but the sub-system relay blocked the request. Apparently, he needed the access of something called a Tercero to access that data. He tried a few taps to override the clearance but nothing happened. Quickly, he tapped a worm virus into the system to download everything available.