by Frank Carey
Still humming, Gloria keyed the Melete's particulars into the bay inventory system so that the Protector knew her mass and power requirements. A green light indicated that Melete was now considered to be part of the Protector's mini-fleet of transport vessels. The total time taken from hack was one minute forty-six seconds. As Glit shut down the engines they could hear the overhead doors closing followed by the hiss of atmo returning to normal levels.
"Damn, I love it when a plan comes together," Gloria said as she accessed the Protector's mainframe.
"Where's the Captain?" Tobath asked as he looked over Gloria's shoulder.
"The computer shows her, Charlie, and a security team visiting someone in the asteroid named Capt. Troon." She pressed more buttons as her humming got louder. "I'm in the asteroid's computer system. My, their security is almost nonexistent. Oh, the arrogance. Well, ain't that the shit?" she said as she came to an abrupt stop.
"What?" Nersa asked as she looked over and read the screen. "Damn!"
"What?" Tobath asked.
"We need to get down to the main lock, now," Gloria said as she checked her weapon before heading to the forward bay.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Angela and Charlie led Skaarn and her people through the airlock into Protector as the security team brought up the rear. Once inside, the security team leader reached down to close the hatch when blaster fire brought him and the other members down. Before Ange or Charlie could unholster their guns they found themselves staring down Skaarn's pistols as her guards secured the area by killing the video feeds.
"What is the meaning of this?" Ange demanded as she and Charlie were disarmed.
"Change of plans. Take us to the bridge," Skaarn said as she poked her pistol in Ange's ribs.
"You won't get away with this," Charlie said as they walked down the corridor.
"Oh, we will. We've injected a virus into your computer which gives us total control of your systems," Skaarn said as they passed an intersection. Before she could continue, blaster shots rang out. She turned to see what was going on only to face the tip of a sword held by an angry looking young Martok female. Behind her were members of several other races standing amongst the still bodies of the Halcyon troops, each holding a gun on her and Tokka.
"Hi. I suggest you hand your guns to the nice Captain or else I will separate your head from your shoulders," Arriska said with a sweet smile. The sword's tip didn't move a millimeter.
"Who the hell are you, Martok?" Skaarn said as she and Tokka handed their weapons over to Ange.
"My name is Arriska, but you can call me Princess. Now, on your knees, Halcyon. My arm grows tired."
Skaarn and Tokka knelt as a Protector Security team lead by Talia, Charlie's lieutenant, ran up to take control of the situation. "Sirs, someone called us on the intercom and said we were being invaded."
"That would be me," Gloria said as she threw a Halcyon she was holding into a bulkhead, knocking him unconscious. "Hi, Ange. Charlie. Hey, do you guys validate parking?"
"Gloria? Tobath? Arriska? What the hell are you doing here?" Ange sputtered as Charlie ordered the prisoners be taken to the Brig.
Gloria walked up and gave a dazed and confused Ange a hug. "First, we need to go. Troon thinks Skaarn and her people have taken the ship and are going to use it to destroy a number of Martok colony worlds.”
"How the hell can you possibly know that?" Charlie exclaimed.
"I hacked their computer system right after I hacked yours. Some megalomaniac by the name of Troon has the whole plan in there. I emailed Billy with the particulars of the hack and the Halcyon virus right before I found the plans."
"Bridge, this is the captain. Take us out on a direct heading to Northcal Six, best possible speed."
"Aye, Captain. Best possible speed," Kyne replied.
"Come with me," Ange said as she walked down the hall to Dorsal Bay Three. She opened the door as Charlie turned on the lights. There, stowed in the corner, was the Melete with three young people standing in front and a fourth waving from the cockpit. Ange glared at Charlie.
"Captain, it's not his fault," Gloria said. "No one in their right mind would smuggle a freighter aboard the League's finest warship."
"We'll deal with that later. Charlie, you and Talia get down to the brig and interrogate our prisoners. Find out everything they know about Troon's plans for the League and the Martok."
"Aye, Captain," he said as he and Talia headed down the corridor toward the Brig.
"Now, as for the rest of you," Ange said, exasperated. "Ensign, show our guests to the forward lounge and get them whatever they want. I'll join you shortly." She walked off, heading to the Bridge.
"Jam session!" Glit said as she and the rest of them ran back to the Melete to retrieve their instruments while Gloria, Nersa, Arriska, and Tobath hung back.
"Amazing," Gloria said. "Don't they realize they just stopped a group of armed Halcyons from taking over this ship, and killing the captain and the head of security?”
"They're young musicians," Nersa said. "They live for the music."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
"Captain on the Bridge," Kyne called out as Ange walked in. "Ma'am, we're on course for the Northcal Six Mining Operation, best possible speed. There is no one in pursuit."
"Communications, get me Space Command on an ultra-secure channel."
"Aye, Captain," the communications officer replied.
While she waited, she briefed the bridge crew on what had happened down below.
"Billy has secured the computer core so that no one will be able to do that again. He's also looking into Ms. Gloria's hack of the fire suppression system in the shuttle bays," Kyne told her, "though in this case I think we should be glad she was able to exploit it. Ma'am, from what you’ve told us, it looks like Arriska, Gloria, and the crew of the Melete were able to figure out in a few days what it took us and Space Command the better part of a year to decipher."
Ange looked at him. "Yes, amazing isn't it. Seven young people and two adults showed all of Space Command up. I can't wait to write my report on this boondoggle. Kyne, run long-range scans of the sector. Assuming what Troon told us about our part in the Northcal Six operation was bullshit; I would think we should see two groups of ships heading directly toward the mine."
"Aye, ma'am," he said with a nod toward the Science station.
Almost immediately the scans showed more than a dozen ships heading toward the mine. "Captain," the science officer said, "We have at least twelve Martok ships and several unknowns on a direct heading to the mine."
"Comm, get me the Heracles on secure channel."
"Aye, ma'am..."
"Ange! What news do you bring us?" Capt. T'Slot said as his image formed on the main viewer.
She gave him a run down on what was heading his way.
"It was getting a little dull here, so a spot of excitement would be a welcome relief. I'll set out the fine bone china for our guests."
"You do that, you old war horse. You and the others be careful. I wish I could be there, but I have a whole nother kettle of fish to fry. Protector out."
"I would love to see the Halcyons’ faces when they come face to face with five of Protector's sister ships, all armed and ready for battle."
"So would I. Any word from Charlie?" Ange asked.
"Only that they've begun the interrogation. He should have something soon."
"I hope so. We're on course for somewhere, and I really hate flying blind."
###
Skaarn sat handcuffed to a metal table in the center of a nondescript room somewhere in the bowels of the Protector. Around her were four large mirrors while above her hung a single bare illumination source. The effect was one of sitting at the intersection of four infinity tunnels which many found to be disturbing.
"Why hello again, Lt. Skaarn. I hope you're comfortable," Charlie said as he walked in and sat down opposite the Halcyon officer.
"Skaarn, Lieutenant, ID 08465783,
" she said, her blue eyes filled with anger.
"Wow, you sound like you've been watching old war movies. Problem is we don't have any treaties with the Halcyon race, so as far as we're concerned, you and your people are spies and terrorists. Now, under League articles of war, we can take you and your people to an airlock and eject you into the vacuum of space or shoot you, then eject you into the vacuum of space.”
"You wouldn't dare!"
Charlie smiled as one of the mirrors turned into a video monitor showing a body floating past. There were several holes visible in its torso. A moment later, the display returned to being a mirror.
"Skaarn, let me be perfectly straight with you. You threatened my Captain who happens to be my wife. Normally I would strap you to the working end of one of our rail guns and pull the trigger, but Ange--the Captain--persuaded me to talk to you first while I calm down. Trust me, this is not easy."
"What do you want?" Skaarn asked, visibly shaken.
"First, just to be sure we're on the same page. Troon's plan is to set the Martok against the League and then mop up afterwards, correct?"
Charlie was surprised to see the already pale Skaarn get even paler. "How..."
"The elf--Gloria, the one with the tail and pointed ears--hacked your asteroid's mainframe. We know everything, so you can drop the bullshit. We know Halcyons and Erdexi may share some genetics, but to them your kind is a long-forgotten nightmare, the stuff of bad legends.”
"The Erdexi are inferior copies of the great and glorious Halcyon race," Skaarn spit out as she spun-up the rhetoric.
"Really? Would you like to discuss that with the Erdexis we have on board? I can arrange it."
Skaarn said nothing.
"Why did the Halcyons drive out the Martok?"
"Simple economics. They were a drain on our resources. We made it more palatable to the masses by making up a story about the Martok wanting to take over the Empire."
"But you couldn't have done this without the help of the Erdexi."
"The Erdexi were slaves. We needed them to keep the empire running or else we would have shipped them out with the Martok."
"But they eventually drove you out, the Erdexi that is."
"The Halcyon race became complacent. We let the Erdexi drive us out."
"Just like you let the Erdexi take the fall for the Martok diaspora. Your kind makes me sick. Your leaders force others to do their dirty work then have no compunction against letting them take the fall while you sit back in your high castles and watch the massacre."
"It's the fate of the inferior races...like yours."
"Right. I'll remember what you just said as I watch the air get sucked from your lungs."
Skaarn remained silent.
"Lieutenant, one final question, and I'll let you go back to your cell."
"Ask away. I will tell you nothing."
An image of an ice planet formed on all four mirrors. Below it was a set of coordinates and environmental data. "When we arrive in orbit, who do we talk to about returning your remains and the remains of your compatriots?"
Skaarn leapt out of her chair, almost tearing the table from the floor when she hit the limit of her handcuffs. "No! They know nothing about this. They are like sheep. Troon, myself, and the others found a hidden cache of books which told the story of the Halcyon, Erdexi, and Martok struggles. We thought we could return the Halcyon race to its rightful glory. I swear on the bones of my ancestors the people on that planet know nothing about this," Skaarn yelled as she stood there, fear exuding from her very pores as her facade of false bravado sloughed away like a bad paint job in a sandstorm.
Charlie stood up and leaned over the table, looking Skaarn in the eyes from only centimeters away. "I believe you," he said as he reached down and removed Skaarn's handcuffs. "All your compatriots tell the same story." The guards will take you back to your cell. Please cooperate with them."
"What about the body floating in space?"
The image returned to the screens. "Computer-generated imagery," Charlie said as the "body" performed a backstroke. "I think Cmdr. Thurgood really has a knack, don't you?"
Skaarn hung her head as the guards came in and led her out of the room.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The main conference room was filled with personnel when Arriska and Gloria arrived for the meeting hastily called by the captain. Tobath elected to sit this one out so he could get some much needed maintenance completed on the Melete. The captain had given him access to the Protector's Engineering Department, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he could not pass up.
Arriska looked around the room and saw beings from many parts of the League sitting around the table discussing events while waiting for the captain to show up. She frowned slightly when she saw Keelan, the Erdexi envoy, but quickly hid it so as not to incite an incident. They had enough problems without her getting into a hissy fit with a representative of one of their allies.
"Gloria! My God, woman, since when did you grow a body?" Billy asked as he walked over and gave her a hug. Cmdr. William "Billy" Thurgood, Head of the Computer Division and the captain's stepbrother.
"Hi, Billy," she said when he released her. "Yeah, that would take a little explaining." When he first met her, Gloria had been a noncorporeal entity that could jump from one robotic body to another, so a living, breathing version would be a shock for anyone she met a year ago. "You remember Princess Arriska?"
"Yes, of course. I saw you briefly after your ship was freed from the hijackers. You probably don't remember me. I was part of the body retrieval team. I hear Tobath is aboard as well. I hate to be a gossip, but are you two back together now?"
"Billy!" Gloria said in a scolding tone.
"No, it's okay. Yes, we are back together. I really need to apologize for my actions that day," Arriska said.
"No, you and your mother were in a really bad place and did what you had to do. I've talked to a number of Tralaskans and most felt that you were justified in what you did. We need to get past all that and concentrate on the problem at hand," he said as he gave her a hug as well.
"Damn, Billy Thurgood. When did you become so wise?" Gloria asked, wishing they could all behave this well.
"Being crew on the Protector does that to you. Speaking of crew, it looks like Ange is ready to begin."
They all sat down and came to order as the captain walked up to the podium and activated the viewscreen.
"This briefing is Ultra Top Secret. What you are about to hear cannot leave this room," she said before beginning the actual briefing.
The Space Command logo was replaced by a map of the sector of space they were traveling through. On it were Northcal Six, the Halcyon Asteroid and a planet denoted by a white spot. Their current position was plotted as a flashing red dot.
"First off, I would like to extend thanks and welcome to the crew and passengers of the LTV Melete. As most of you know, they were responsible for saving this ship, my life, and the life of Charlie Trost. I would especially like to welcome Arriska, Princess of Martok and its future ruler."
The room broke out in applause with even Keelan clapping. Arriska stood up and gave them a little bow while thanking everyone.
"Now down to business," Ange said as she activated the main view screen and started the briefing.
The lights in the room dimmed as Ange explained what the League knew about Erdexi-Halcyon-Martok history. "Now here's the kicker. We think that the Martok were unaware of the Halcyon's complicity in the diaspora. We think the Halcyons worked behind the scenes orchestrating the Martok expulsion so that both the Martok and Erdexi believed the Halcyons were just a small segment of the population. It wasn't until the Martok were gone that the Erdexi realized the Halcyons were using them as puppets, so the Halcyons were expelled leaving the Erdexi to pay the price. It's looking more and more likely that by the time the Martok returned and destroyed the Erdexi Empire, the truth of what happened before had already been lost to time.”
Ar
riska looked shocked. The thought of so much death due to the machinations of one small group of beings was almost too much to comprehend.
So, what we have is a grudge match a quarter million years in the making with the League dragged right smack dab into the middle. Three races, three agendas and a war. The Erdexi, destroyed thousands of years ago by the Martok, now a part of the League of Planetary Systems. The Martok, driven from their homes by the Erdexi under the control of the Halcyons, and the Halcyons, a race intent on bringing war between the League and the Martok for the purpose of taking over what's left after the two behemoths kick the shit out of each other. Unfortunately, things are not that simple," she said before bringing up pictures of the Halcyons they had in custody and detailing the results of Charlie's interrogations. "All of this boils down to a small group of individuals preying on our species' fears coupled with a real lack of information. All four entities--Erdexi, Halcyon, Martok, and League are to blame for this. Lucky for all of us cooler heads prevailed."
The viewscreen shimmered as the image of the Halcyons was replaced by one of a dark-haired earth woman standing next to a very tall, four-armed Martok female and several other beings including Keelan.
"Just prior to the Arriska Incident, the League's Office of Security was in the midst of an investigation of a separationist group calling itself Rebirth. During that investigation they became aware of a blond Erdexi calling himself Vreen. After the Arriska Incident was resolved and before the execution of the Tralaskan prisoners and Vreen by the Martok, a meeting was held aboard this ship to discuss Mr. Vreen and the information he gave us during a short but intense investigation. The group you see up there realized we had all been duped, so they hatched a plan..."
Ange pressed a button on her podium and the view switched to one of a large, comfortable looking room with couches, chairs and tables. Off to one side they could see a door leading into a room full of beds. As everyone watched, a Halcyon walked into view eating a sandwich.
Gloria shot out of her seat followed closely by Arriska. "Vreen!" they said together.