Exodus: Machine War: Book 4: Retribution

by Doug Dandridge

  “We’ll have a shuttle at your station in an hour,” said the female. “Unless it would be more convenient to have it arrive sooner.”

  “No, that will be fine.”

  * * *

  The Lord Kessarlja walked with his entourage out into the hangar as soon as the outer hatch closed and the chamber was again pressurized. The human ship, what they called one of their standard shuttles, looked more like some kind of small warship than simply a transport. The hull looked incredibly tough, and the snouts of weapons thrust from the nose of the craft. He stood waiting for the hatch to the shuttle to open and his deliverer to disembark. Fortunately, it had traveled only through space, and not through atmosphere, and so didn’t carry a load of friction generated heat.

  The hatch opened and two beings came out in a walk. They didn’t look like the humans he had seen on the com, much bulkier in what had to be spacesuits. Then it struck him that they were in battle armor, which looked just as tough and capable as the shuttle. They took up positions, one either side of the hatch, and raised their rifles till the barrels were pointing up, the weapon held close to their bodies. He wasn’t sure of the significance, but didn’t think it presaged an attack.

  Four beings came through the hatch, two of the humans he had already seen, wearing soft uniforms that had the appearance of being their dress form. One had the fibrous head covering he had associated with the female he had talked with. The next one through had a face covered with small feather structures, a beak like nose over a slash of a mouth. The fourth figure through caused quite more commotion than those that had preceded it. It was enormous, taller than a Gorgansha, with a four legged body longer than a male was high. A torso protruded from that body, with two powerful looking arms and a head containing heavy toothed jaws. Several of his males started to reach for weapons, so startled were they by the sight of the creature, and he waved frantically for them to stop before they drew and upset the saviors.

  “Lord Kessarlja?” asked the human with the long fibrous head covering in a high-pitched voice, walking forward, her other beings following her.

  “Yes,” said Kessarlja, stepping forward, his hand out to mimic hers, not sure what it meant but willing to follow her lead. “Commodore Boroslav?”

  “That I am,” said the female, grasping his hard hand in her soft one.

  “I am so happy to meet you. And your people promote the independence and advancement of females?”

  “Does that bother you, Lord Kessarlja?” said Boroslav, her eyes narrowing.

  The system lord figured that the humans had already run into the dominant culture in the capital system, and had probably come away feeling that milieu was derogatory toward their own.

  “It doesn’t bother me at all, Commodore,” he said, lying slightly. “In fact, my own wife is my greatest adviser, and runs most of my household, which includes making sure I am informed of things going on on my planet between males and females in general.”

  “That’s, unusual for your people, isn’t it?”

  “It has been general principle in this system since the days of my grandfather,” said Kessarlja, maintaining eye contact with the human officer so she could see he was sincere.

  “And do they serve in your military?”

  “Uh, we have not progressed that far, Commodore. Unfortunately, I am not a totally free agent, and must obey the dictates of the supreme leader.”

  “Which means your supreme dictator, true?” asked the giant being in a deep basso voice.

  Kessarlja was about to answer when one of his advisor's whispered in his ear about the wisdom of saying anything about the supreme dictator. He blinked his eyes in agreement, then looked back at the female. “I have just been told that it might not be a good idea to discuss this topic.”

  The female looked at him for a moment, and he could almost see the gears turning behind her eyes. “I, understand,” she said softly. “I don’t want to get you in trouble with your superiors.”

  Kessarlja didn’t respond to that, since it would be admitting that he was afraid of the supreme dictator. While his own people loved him, and he was sure they would lay down their lives to defend him, if Supreme Dictator Hraston Gonoras decided he wanted the system lord dead, he was as good as. There was no way his system defense force could stand up to the Consolidation fleet.

  “Perhaps we should adjourn to the conference room, where we have refreshments.”

  The Imperial delegation followed the system lord from the hangar and through the corridors to a lift. The large alien, identified as a Marine colonel and a member of the Phlistaran species, had to wait for the second lift, while the other three rode up with Kessarlja and his chief of staff.

  Kessarlja looked in fascination at the feathered being, who was a biped just like the humans, but unlike them in many other ways.

  “I neglected to introduce my officers,” said the commodore. “Allow me to introduce Commander Beatrice Gordon, my chief of staff. And this is Commander Hratta Hisstarus, my staff intelligence officer. Colonel Jadgator is the head of my Marine battalion, responsible for security of my force.”

  “And Commander Hisstarus is?”

  “I am a member of the Gryphon species, System Lord. We have been integrated into the Empire for over seven hundred years.”

  “Which means they are full citizens of the Empire,” said the commodore. “They are given all the rights and responsibilities of humans, and are able to vote in all elections that are germane to their locality of residence.”

  “All?”

  “My people have over thirty members in the House of Lords,” said the alien in his sibilant speech, translated into the language of the Gorgansha. “And a hundred and fifteen in the Commons. We are well represented in the government.”

  “Our Empire attempts to integrate all alien species in our space into the body politic, when they are deemed ready,” said Commander Gordon.

  “When they are ready?”

  “How long did it take your species to become full citizens, Hratta?” asked the commodore.

  “I think thirty-seven standard years from the signing of the peace treaty until we were granted full citizenship.”

  “Peace treaty?” asked the system lord, his auditory receptors perking up.

  “Yes,” said the Gryphon, his strangely beautiful eyes looking out of his feather down covered face. “We declared war on the humans in the early days of their Empire. They beat us in battle, then ruled us so that we wouldn’t attack again, eventually offering us inclusion into their nation. Since they were so strong, and since the only other alternative was to remain subjugated, we accepted. We…”

  The door to the lift opened, and the party was led down a long corridor within the station to a large room. Inside the room was a long table, around it set two score chairs. Plates of food were laid out on the table, and decanters of liquids.

  “I’m not sure how comfortable our chairs will be to your people, and I have nothing at all for your Marine officer.”

  Moments later the aforementioned officer came into the room, and seemed to have no problem with standing. The humans took some samples of the food and put them in several devices they had brought with them. It didn’t take long for the food to be pronounced not only not harmful, but nutritious for all three of the species who had come aboard. Whether it was palatable remained to be seen.

  Other beings entered and started serving the food and drink. Kessarlja noted that all of the Imperials paid a great deal of attention to the non Gorganshas, though they made no attempt to talk with them.

  “Are your servants voluntary or not?” asked the female commodore after taking a bite of a meat and bread dish and smiling with pleasure.

  “Do you mean, are they slaves?” asked the system lord. He looked up at the tall, thin gray skinned biped and motioned for his attention. “Monatus and his family have been in the service of mine for generations. Monatus, have you ever been treated unkindly by myself or my family?”

/>   “Why, no, my Lord,” stated the being, his eyes widening slightly. “We have been well treated by you.”

  “Are you free, Monatus?” asked the commodore, her translator faithfully reproducing her words in the Gorgansha tongue.

  Kessarlja gave the slave an eye blink of permission.

  “The Lord Kessarlja has owned my family for many generations, back to the time of his great grandfather. No one could ask for a better master. And from his grandfather’s time my people have suffered none of the excesses of the non-Gorgansha of other worlds.”

  “But you don’t have your freedom?”

  “What would I do with my, freedom, as you call it? I am fed, I have a warm and comfortable place to sleep. My family is with me, and all receive the medical care they need. What else could a being want?”

  “Unfortunately, Commodore, it is against the law of the Consolidation for non-Gorgansha to be declared free beings in our society. I, and those like me, especially on this planet, wish it were otherwise, but it is what it is.”

  The system lord could tell that the human was thinking about what the servant had said. He wasn’t sure if he should have said any of the things he had, or to let her question his old retainer. It might come back to hurt him and his family in the end, but he had been dying to talk to other beings that felt like he did. But now it was time to shut down this line.

  “We are very grateful to you for having come to our aid,” he said, looking from being to being. “And from what I understand, you have contacted our supreme dictator.”

  “We have,” said the female with a strange expression on her face. “Our Emperor believes that your people would make a powerful ally out in this region, but your tech is not up to our standards.”

  “So you will give us this tech? And strengthen the current regime?”

  “Uh, about that. I’m not sure what else we could do, since we are not in the habit of telling other beings what they should do.”

  The system lord heard her words, but thought he heard the political undertones of someone who didn’t approve of his system. Interesting, he thought. He had always wondered what would happen if his people had met a superior culture. And now he might find out.

  Chapter Three

  Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence. Thomas Jefferson

  GORGANSHA HOME SYSTEM: AUGUST 19TH, 1002.

  “The freighters will be here within the hour, my Lord,” said the human female who was the leader of the Imperial diplomatic mission.

  “But, I have not been informed of anything approaching the system, female,” said the incredulous dictator.

  “They’re not coming through hyper, my Lord. We are erecting the gate they will come through at this moment.” She looked off holo for a moment, as if listening to someone else, then turned back to him. “I have to go.”

  The holo died before the dictator could ask what she meant. He tried to get her back, but for some reason she was not responding. “Curse her, and all the humans,” he growled. He was not used to being denied, by anyone. Every citizen and slave of his kingdom answered to him, and he held life and death power over them. But not these humans, and that frustrated him. And a frustrated Hraston Gonoras was not safe for anyone to be around.

  Someone moved behind the dictator, and as he turned on his quadrupedal stance of three legs and a tail he found a slave coming up to put a flask of drink on the table, the perfect target for his anger.

  “Fool,” he shouted, striking out with his single right arm and striking the slender creature in the face, hard enough to snap its neck. The creature fell dead to the floor, taking the flask with it, which shattered on the tiles.

  “My Lord,” called out a sentry, running into the room. “What happened? Did he attack you?”

  “The fool distracted me,” growled the leader. “Remove this offal from my sight, and send in another slave with more wine.”

  The sentry gave a head motion of acknowledgment, then spoke into his communicator. Within a minute more slaves had entered the room, stopping for a moment to stare at the body of their comrade, then hurriedly removing the corpse and cleaning up the spilled drink. The dictator lost not a moment’s thought on them. He didn’t care how they felt. To him they were organic robots, only there to carry out his every wish.

  “Get me my fleet commander,” said the dictator into the air, connecting him to his leading military expert.

  “My Lord,” answered the male, appearing on a holo hanging in the air.

  “Do you have a plan in place to take the human ships?”

  “I do, my Lord. Though I have to caution you again about attacking them. Myself and my staff think that we need to stay on the good side of these people. They would make a formidable enemy.”

  “Not if we have their technologies,” said the dictator. “All of them. We..”

  “My Lord,” broke in another voice on their conversation. “You need to see this.”

  “See what? How dare you interrupt…” The words died in his mouth as a holo expanded in the air, blocking off his view of the admiral.

  The view showed some kind of structure hanging in space near the human battle cruiser, with a shimmering mirror like surface inside the square. As he watched all of the arms expanded outward, increasing the size of the mirror. Moments later it expanded again, then again, steadily growing.

  “Is this one of their wormholes?” he asked, staring at the perfect reflective mirror in fascination.

  “What else could it be?” asked the admiral in charge of his fleet.

  The dictator stared over at the admiral, who had just entered the room, wondering if the male was mocking him. Seeing the expression on the males face he decided not, and his attention was pulled back to the scene on the holo. The frame was still expanding in discrete steps, the mirror inside it growing right along. Suddenly it stopped, then rotated slightly in place.

  “How big is that thing?” asked Gonoras.

  “We’re estimating at least ten kilometers on a side,” said the admiral. “We could put an entire squadron of capital ships through simultaneously.”

  “What the hell could they be sending through?” asked another of the males now crowding into the room.

  “Get their admiral on the com,” yelled the dictator. “I would know what in the hell they are pulling here.”

  “Should I have our weapons prepare to fire on whatever comes through that thing?” asked the admiral.

  “I, I don’t know.” The dictator was caught in a quandary. If they brought across something to attack his people and he didn’t order his forces to fire at them, he could lose the fight before it began. But if he fired on ships that weren’t here to invade, he would have started a war with a power that was much more advanced than his fleet. In that case, he would surely lose.

  “My Lord. My Lord.”

  “What is it?”

  “The human admiral is on the com.”

  “Don’t fire at anything until I order it, unless they fire on us. Put the human female on.”

  The ugly face of the alien female appeared in the air to the side of the larger holo of the wormhole.

  “What in the hell are you trying to pull, human?”

  “What do you mean, my Lord?”

  “This thing by your ship. Why is it there?”

  “That is there to gate in our freighters and their escorts, my Lord. I thought you understood that when I told you our freighters were less than an hour from arrival. We couldn’t get them here that quickly without one of the gates.”

  “You need to make yourself clearer in the future, female.” The dictator was fuming. He wouldn’t have authorized them opening a gate in his system if he had been consulted about it. But they had not asked him his opinion, in his own home system. High ranked Gorgansha had died for less.

  “I am sorry, my Lord. It will not happen agai
n.”

  Gonoras was about to order the humans to call off their ships. But then he would have a longer wait for the materials they were sending through. If they were sending strategic materials and tech through, and this was not an invasion. And if it was an invasion, what was to prevent them from sending it through hyperspace to attack them the old way.

  “Here comes the first ship,” said the female, at the moment that a wide object, over a kilometer in width, poked through the mirror and had transited in seconds.

  “What in the hell is that?”

  “That is one of the ships used to escort our supply ships, my Lord. That is a super heavy battleship.”

  The dictator stared in disbelief as the ship seemed to explode into his space. Over three kilometers in length, a third of that in width, it had to mass more than four times his largest capital ship. And they were using it as an escort. He wasn’t sure he believed that. And though he was sure his insystem fleet would still be able to destroy it, at what cost?

  The next objects through were a pair of smaller ships, still double the mass of the human admiral’s flagship. They were followed by a trio of ships of the flagship’s class. Now the humans had six more capital ships in his system, all of much greater capability than any of his larger warships.

  The next thing through was a very large round object, poking its rotund form through the mirror. It didn’t have the shape of a warship, more like some kind of cargo carrier, but ten times larger than anything his people used.

  “That’s the largest ship we’re sending through,” said the human admiral. “All of the others are much smaller. But that one contains twenty-five million tons of the equipment we are sending to you.”

  “Twenty-five million,” mouthed the dictator, hardly believing his ears. That was more mass than four of his battleships, carried by one cargo vessel.

  “Of course, those ships are mighty fragile, and we don’t like to deploy them out here unless we can put them through a gate. Not like back home, where we have thousands of the superfreighters plying the spaceways.”