“What was the favor?”
“They would one day seek entrance into the Concord, as a race. When that day happened, they wanted to be accepted without issue,” Asha said.
Tom glanced at Rene, who wore a deep frown as she digested the news. “You were there, Tom. What happened?”
“Fayle offered to help our diminished fleet with the Ugna vessels. She only asked that they be given a planet and entrance into the Concord. It didn’t seem like a big deal,” Tom told her.
“But it was… and who was the Prime at the time?” Rene asked.
Tom was fully aware she knew, but he was following her logic. “There was no Prime. There was Prime-in-Waiting Harris, but Admiral Benitor was really in charge.” The betrayal hit him in the chest.
“And she agreed to their terms?” Rene asked.
“Instantly. I recall her saying something about being able to convince the others and mentioning that it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission.” Tom slapped a palm to his forehead. “We’ve been played. Benitor brought them in, and now she’s missing.”
“Are you saying the Ugna have been planning their entrance into the Concord for eighty years?” Rene asked.
“Something tells me it’s been a lot longer than that,” Tom whispered. “Asha, can you reach out to your mother? Tell her you’re coming with Rene and me to the surface. I need to speak with her.”
Lieutenant Commander Asha Bertol nodded and exited the room, leaving them alone.
“If we’re shooting straight here, Tom, what does this lead up to?” Rene asked.
Tom considered the question. “The Ugna want to control us. They might be the ones attacking our partners under the guise of the Concord. We have to stop them.”
He thought about Treena and the crew of Constantine, and wished they were with Shu at Aruto to help him solve this riddle.
____________
Treena walked through the village, struggling to imagine it before the centuries of growth and vegetation had torn the foundations; had cracked and broken through the pathways. This had been an ancient Ugna village, according to Ven’s theory.
“Could they not have copied the style?” Treena asked her executive lieutenant as they stood atop the highest ground in the town, staring over the entire layout. Drones had spent last night and this morning mapping it out, and Ven was confident the exact same footprint was used on Leria, and a version was being duplicated on Driun F49.
“This is Ugna.”
Brax climbed the last few steps, sweat beading over his brow, and he sat, gawking at the jungle village. “There have been multiple cases of different villages creating the exact same artwork, or similar buildings and carvings. To be fair, there are more than six cases I’ve read about where different races, from different eras, had etchings almost identical to one another, even though they were thousands of light years apart.”
Treena smiled at Brax. “I had no idea you were such a xenobiologist and anthropologist.”
“Just a little light reading. I have to keep up with Reeve’s conversations somehow,” Brax said.
“You could be right, but Ven is positive this was created by his ancestors.” The man was even quieter than usual. She was anxious to know if Reeve had learned anything more about their location, but so far, the chief engineer hadn’t contacted them on the ground. In this case, no news wasn’t good news.
“What I want to know is how we ended up in this system. Of all the places for our star drive to malfunction and send us, we stopped near Planet X and found an ancient Ugna village? The odds are low.” Brax looked Treena in the eyes, and she didn’t have an answer for him.
Ven did. “I do not think it is an accident we found this.”
“Then what? Someone sent us?” Treena asked.
“It is possible.” Ven finally broke his stare at the ruins and met her gaze with red eyes.
“How? You’d need some serious clearance and technical abilities to force the Nek to activate and drop us this far from anything. Reeve would never allow such tampering,” Brax said.
“Not deliberately, but I think Ven is right. This can’t be a coincidence. Someone wanted us to find this.” Treena tried to think of who, and even more so, why.
“To what end?” Brax asked.
Ven started descending the ruins. “To show us that the Ugna are a far older race than we imagined. They are not just of the Concord. Driun F49 has over a million Ugna. We’re aware that High Elder Wylen had one of the Pilia colony vessels, and that most of their population came from outside Concord space.”
“And Benitor and the Prime told Baldwin not to press the matter. I know for a fact he was doing some searching on his own accord before they asked him to cease and desist. They aligned him with Elder Fayle on a mission too, so they’re all-in with their partnership of the Ugna. Is that how you see it, Ven?” Treena asked.
“That is what I think as well. There are so many secrets surrounding the Ugna, far too many for me to accept. Perhaps they refuse to share them with me because of my connection to the Concord or because they keep it to the top-level Elders alone. I get the sense that none of the other Ugna, the regular people trained and raised like myself, have any idea what is truly going on.” Ven led them over the decline, and a minute later, they were lined along the overgrown walkway.
“Where were these people when you were on Driun F49? The ones born and raised outside of the Border.” Brax wiped his brow again, and this was one of those cases when Treena was thankful to be in an android’s body. Perhaps she wouldn’t always be, if that was her end goal, but right now, with the sweltering heat and the swarms of bugs annoying Brax, she counted it a blessing.
“I did not meet any. I was told they were going through a transitional phase,” Ven advised.
“Which means?” Treena heard some commotion from across the village, and they started walking faster toward the few engineering crew members sifting through the drone data.
Ven slowed, appearing to gather his thoughts. “The Ugna have different phases during training. As you know, we are fed En’or, injected with the drug to assist our growth and strength. I believe they are dosing the newcomers, which they suggest helps acclimate them to a new environment. They will each be isolated, fed the drug, and instructed to spend days, weeks, even months, to meditate and improve their mental capacity while on a new planet.”
“This doesn’t sound right,” Brax said. “They brought nearly a million people from around the Concord, and over half of them from hiding beyond the Border. They drug them and instill powerful telekinetic abilities. If the Ugna turn out to be a foe, not a friend, we’re going to be in for a real fight.”
Treena tried to gauge Ven’s reaction to this comment. She’d been thinking the same thing but didn’t want to express her concerns with her executive lieutenant present. It was too late now.
Ven’s expression didn’t alter. “I believe you are accurate in your assumption. Fighting the Ugna would prove deadly.”
Treena imagined facing off against a ship full of beings that could kill your entire crew with their minds, and cringed. They had to be wrong about this. If the Prime trusted them, and Tom almost did too, Treena had to follow their lead. “It can’t be. The Ugna were scared. They hid for fear of persecution. You saw how bad it was when word leaked over Driun F49. The opposition to their entrance into the Concord was unprecedented.”
“But we stopped that,” Brax said. “Tom managed to convince their ringleader. Of course, he is dating her.”
“We don’t have enough information. Let’s see what they found and return to Constantine.” Treena avoided a particularly uneven section of the path and walked up to one of Reeve’s crew, spotting a strange device uncovered from the brush. “What’s this?”
The woman pulled a long vine away from the object, which was placed on a stone pedestal. It was about waist-high on the dais and clearly of a different time than the ruins. Treena thought the shape and design was a little familiar
, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“That’s used in terraforming,” Ven said.
“Terraforming?” Brax asked, setting a hand on the unit. “This thing looks old, but I see what you’re saying. It’s similar in style.”
The engineering woman nodded along. “That’s exactly what it is.”
“Why is it here?” Treena asked her. “Were they trying to make this a Class Zero-Nine world?”
“On the contrary,” the woman said, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder. “I believe that Planet X was a Zero-Nine planet, but they adjusted to change the parameters.”
“Why would they do that?” Brax asked.
Ven answered. “To keep people from seeking to colonize. They didn’t want anyone to find it. Or they planned on returning one year and wanted it to be clear of settlers.”
“It appears like they set the device to run for a century, but that time was up long ago,” the engineer said.
“Can you find a time stamp from it?” Treena asked, her mind racing with questions.
“We’ll do our best.” The woman waved the other crew members in, and they began to work on moving the tool onto a hovercart so they could bring it aboard Constantine.
“The mystery continues.” Treena started for Cleo when the transmission came in.
“Reeve to the captain.”
“Go ahead, Daak,” Treena replied.
“I think we might have our answer.”
“You’ve tracked our location?”
There was a slight pause before Reeve spoke. “Almost. Anything we need to know?”
“We think this is an Ugna village,” Treena told her.
“The Ugna? That doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. Keep working on it. I’ll be there soon.” Treena ended the communication and watched as the engineers hauled the terraforming device toward Cleo. She was anxious to be moving, to find Earth and learn more about human history.
____________
“We can’t keep him sedated forever,” Kristen said. Her skin was pale, and there was a constant sheen of perspiration over her forehead as they sat on the bridge of their recently-acquired vessel.
“Do you really want to trifle with an Invader?” Brandon asked her, and she shook her head.
He’d invited their colony doctor, Val, in for this discussion, and he turned to her. “What do you think, Val? Do we have enough supplies to dampen his abilities?”
She pursed her lips, the wrinkles accentuated at the pose. She was older, with long gray hair, but her nimble hands and mind had saved many of their lives during the difficult decade in the old abandoned colony on Mars. “I think we should be able to bring him out for a while. I’ll have another dose prepared, should he prove an issue. But from everything I’ve heard, the drug should counter their telekinesis, at least temporarily.”
Carl was the only one refusing to sit, and he stalked back and forth across the bridge, his bootsteps loud against the composite floor. “You can’t seriously be considering this, Bran. We have the rover. Let’s kill the Invader and be done with it. They’re bad news.”
Brandon was fully aware of this. They were the reason Earth had gone from being great to being oppressed. If only the Invaders had never found it. Brandon watched his people and struggled with the decision he needed to make. The Invaders were the key to this. If there was a way to get rid of them, maybe they could reclaim the planet.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Kristen said. She had this remarkable ability to read his mind at times, almost like one of the Invaders they hated so much. “We can’t win. We’ve been through this. It’s why we left in the first place.”
Brandon gripped the arm of the chair, his fingernails digging in. “That’s not what happened, and you know it!” He was getting angry, and he rose, moving behind his chair to rest his forearms on the headrest. “We escaped because we wanted to fight them. We came to Mars to regroup, and when we found the colony, we decided to rebuild a dome so we didn’t need to crowd in the freighter forever. But somewhere along the way, we lost sight of our initial plan. We turned to cowering and hiding, rather than regrouping and forming a plan.
“There are others like us, people that want to rebel against the Invaders, and I know how to reach them,” Brandon assured them.
“If they still exist,” Kristen whispered.
“Where there’s oppression, there will be seeds of resistance. This is a universal truth. I will find help, but we have to go to the moon first,” he said, not wanting to plead with them.
Carl was already behind him one hundred percent. It was the rest of the colony he was concerned about. Once someone had mentioned using their two vessels and heading away from the planet, moving deeper into the solar system, the others had taken hold, happier to starve out there than die by a blaster on Earth.
“And then what? We find another ragtag group of hungry people, and we sacrifice ourselves against President Basher and his allies?” Kristen asked.
She was usually behind Brandon, so seeing her turn on him was a big surprise. He stared at her leg, the bandages covering her wounds, and he tried to give her some empathy. She wasn’t thinking straight.
“They won’t go for it,” Val advised him. “There are over thirty colonists who want to retaliate.”
Carl fumed, his face contorting in anger. “Then we’ll stop them!”
“No.” Brandon raised a hand, sighing deeply. “We won’t. Val, tell them they can have the freighter. Anyone that wants to stay can. I’m taking this rover and going home. Ten years is too long to continue hiding.”
“They’ll come to Mars again, and this time, they won’t stop until the colony is destroyed,” Val said.
“Then our friends better join me or head out in the freighter. Those are their choices.” Brandon was at peace with his decision, even if he didn’t love it. It was better than getting into a fight with his own allies. They’d been through too much together to end it like this. “And, Val, it’s time to awaken the Invader. We need to find out some information.”
Brandon glanced at Carl, who looked prepared to interrogate the captive with impunity, and then at Kristen, who appeared his polar opposite.
“I’m in, Bran, you know that. You’re a good leader,” Kristen finally said, and he smiled at her, walking over to set a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m glad you’re with me. Let’s go ask our friend some questions.”
Eleven
The capital city of Aruto was in an odd location. Thomas was used to Founder capitals being adjacent to a giant body of water. It was common because the worlds had set up trading within their own continents thousands of years earlier, with boat docks and harbors to move goods around the planet. Once the race developed air travel, followed by space transports, boats were rarely used.
Tom had spent a few dinners on boats over the years and always enjoyed the open sea air. The first time, he’d felt sick from the constant bobbing over the turbulent waves, but eventually, he’d grown used to the movement and even began to appreciate it.
Beacon, the largest city on Aruto, was nestled high in the Boshua Mountains. Tom peered at the snow-capped peaks as they exited the expedition vessel, finding the sight awe-inspiring.
“This is beautiful,” he whispered, and Elder Fayle stopped at his side.
“I never forgot this majestic view from my first visit. One’s faith in the Vastness rings true when you see something like this, right, Admiral?” she asked, no condescension in her voice.
“I agree with you there. Kan, thank you for showing the Elder around today,” Tom said, nodding at the Callalay commander. He was home, though he hadn’t grown up in the city, and Tom needed to distract Fayle while she was on Aruto. Asha Bertol’s mother, the Callalay president, had been adamant that the Ugna woman should step nowhere near her head office during her stay on Aruto. She’d also ordered a full-time Callalay escort to oversee the woman’s whereabouts. Kan Shu was the perfect candidat
e.
“I still do not understand why I am being traipsed around with Commander Shu,” Elder Fayle mumbled under her breath.
She hadn’t taken kindly to the news. Tom felt like she was aware something was wrong, but she wasn’t speaking up, so he didn’t try too hard to convince her of anything.
“We have a meeting with the local Concord Academy, and then we’ll try to reconvene at the embassy later tonight, okay?” Tom smiled at the Elder, hoping she bit. She was an expert at reading emotions, and Tom tried to keep his energy positive, knowing it probably did nothing to hide his trepidation.
“Okay. I’ll see you then. Come on, young man. Show me the sights,” she said to Kan, and the commander helped her into a waiting transport shuttle, telling her about the city.
“Kan’s good,” Tom told Rene, and she nodded once.
“The best.”
Asha Bertol was already walking down the path, and when the doors to a cruiser opened wide, the girl started running for the ramp.
“Asha, on the other hand…” Tom didn’t finish. The girl had earned her position, he was told, yet she seemed too young, too naïve for the role of lieutenant commander. But it wasn’t his place to say so.
“She’s a great asset. Without her, we’d be in orbit, twiddling our thumbs.” Rene nudged him in the arm, and he smirked as they walked toward the president’s unmarked cruiser.
This was a big moment. Tom peered past the shipyard to the hundreds of homes lining the side of the mountain, most of them below the freezing line. There was a cluster of buildings near the center of the city, but none of them were over ten stories. He appreciated that they kept their skyline low, so everyone could benefit from the glorious views. Tom thought how much more he’d enjoy living somewhere like Beacon over Ridele, and wondered if they’d take outsiders.
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