by Bruce Adams
T’sell had drawn her Darisu, fully elongating the sword with the press of a button. With several elegant swift strokes she killed the final miners that had pinned Eris to the floor. There was little chance she would hit her Captain. Heads rolled down the slope grotesquely and blood spattered on the walls and floor. The Arrasian had lowered his weapon and was walking towards T’sell. She knew that the Arrasians were a bipedal winged humanoid species that had gained star-flight at roughly the same time as the Zari. As far as she knew, they could only fly short distances. They were seldom taller than one hundred and twenty centimeters and weighed no more than forty kilograms - this one was no exception.
“A rescue party? No…that does not seem likely. You are wearing the insignia of Furnace Mining and Metals, but I perceive that you are more than you seem. Miners typically do not carry carbon nano-fiber swords and are not knowledgeable in advanced hand to hand combat techniques.” He paused as Eris slowly rose from the pile of bodies.
“Who are you and what are you doing down here?” Eris said, wincing as she saw her suit had been compromised and blood was seeping from her side where she had been grabbed and held down. The claws of those things were sharp enough to penetrate heavy plasteel. She opened one of the containers she wore on her weapons belt and took out a self-adhering armor repair patch and slapped it on the gashed hole in her armor. Micro-sized nanomeks proceeded to mend the hole. Within five minutes the hole would be sealed and her suit could withstand the pressures of space once more. She glanced at the Arrasian as the rest of the squad hurried over. He had shouldered his weapon and put his hands up in the universal gesture of peace.
“Who might my rescuers be?” The small Arrasian was wearing plasteel combat armored colored a dull orange. He also wore a tools kit harness and carried a gauss weapon clipped to his back – it was tailored to his small stature.
“My name is Eris Monroe, and these are my companions Eli Bowman, T’sell T’savri, Sev Tariv and Doctor Lia Xinhao. We’re…security guards…from FMM. The Valdren device, you had it with you behind that kinetic barrier…”
“The Precursor? Yes, I was keeping it safe. Of course, I didn’t know how long it would be until someone came. My power source would not have lasted another day more and I fear the transformed miners would have killed me once my barrier collapsed. Ah, my apologies, I must make amends and properly introduce myself. My name is Professor Gelkar Ruz’zel, a member of the Science and Exploration League,” said the Arrasian in a stilted and formal manner.
Eris thought that she knew who he was the moment she saw him. Her eidetic memory brought up the file that Dominic Gray had supplied her. It was really him…it’s my lucky day. The Arrasian scientist continued speaking, his hands moving with each word. While intently listening, Eris had begun to take off some of her outer armor plate components so that Doctor Xinhao could bandage up her numerous wounds.
“It is good that you came when you did. But you are not really from a mining company – certainly not Furnace Mining and Metals. Who are you really?” The Arrasian scientist certainly was astute.
“Let’s just say we want to get you safe,” said Eris warily. She didn’t fully trust him. Too many unanswered questions remained. What was he doing down here? The Intel that Gray had supplied indicated he was in a different system, so when did he come here and who is he working for?
“You called the Valdren device ‘The Precursor’…precursor to what exactly?” Eli was talking excitedly, his curiosity piqued.
“I will answer all of your questions…but first I believe we should vacate these mines before more of the changed humanoids appear. They are quite mindless and do not hesitate to attack.” Gelkar was becoming agitated and his wings buzzed momentarily. Eris nodded. Doctor Xinhao was busy attending to her wounds and had unpacked her medical supplies from the backpack she carried. Eris stood while the Doctor patched her up.
“Yes, we’re going to leave…but not before destroying that artifact.”
“What?” The Arrasian was flabbergasted. “It is a priceless Valdren treasure! It is actually functioning! Do you know how rare that is?”
“It won’t be functioning much longer,” said Eris with steel in her voice. “Our mission is to destroy the device.” She unsnapped the holster carrying her gauss pistol nonchalantly. “You’re welcome to come back with us to Platinum City…we can offer you protection…” Eris used the link in her suit to contact her team and ordered them to proceed. She had kept with her a small device, a Thermite TH-16 incendiary grenade that would burn through any metal known, including Valdren materials. She had two of them that should be able to destroy the ancient artifact. Lia Xinhao completed bandaging Eris and stepped back, satisfied for the moment.
“That should do it. Captain, try not to exert yourself or the synth-flesh bandage will rupture and you’ll begin to bleed again,” said Lia Xinhao with genuine concern in her voice.
T'sell cried out in pain and doubled over holding her stomach and began to collapse. Eli was closest to her and reached out with his telekinetic ability to keep her from hitting the ground. He gently set her down.
“T’sell! Doctor, check her to see if she was wounded!” exclaimed Eris. I don’t want any more surprises… Eris began to make her way back up the ramp to the room containing the device. Sev Tariv and the Arrasian scientist, Gelkar, came with her while Lia and Eli rushed to T’sell.
“I am truly grateful for your help, Eris Monroe. If I can reciprocate and be of any assistance to you, let me know,” said Gelkar. He was too close to her and she began to become irritated but stifled the reaction.
“Actually Professor, you can help me. I know that you are an expert on the Valdren…and I would like to recruit you as a member of my team. There are missions we are undertaking that could use you and your valuable experience.” Eris was moving slowly, limping from the wounds she had taken from the claws of the transformed miners. As the trio approached the alien artifact, Eris detached a themite grenade from her weapons harness with a click. The Arrasian professor tilted his head as he answered her.
“An intriguing proposal indeed…more information would need to be processed before I accepted, but at this point, I am inclined to answer ‘yes’.” The ancient device was standing upright behind a control console and emitted a dull green glow that seemed to be coming from the metal itself.
“It appears to be fully functional, Captain, it is a shame we don’t truly know what it is capable of,” said Sev Tariv with admiration in his tone. Eris looked at him with a sidelong glance. “We have our orders. The Alliance has been trying to get to this thing for months, perhaps years…” Whatever instinct warned her to dodge out of the way saved her life. A small flying combat drone silently flying through the air roughly twelve meters distant fired at Eris with deadly bursts of energy but hit only the mining controls. The drone was flying erratically near the ceiling four meters high in the air – it appeared to be equipped with twin pulse lasers. Gelkar Ruz’zel was stunned into immobility but was unhurt as the drone had been targeting where Eris had been standing a second before.
“Take cover Ruz’zel!” Eris shouted at the stupefied Arrasian scientist who flew up into the air and away incredibly fast. She had only seconds to act. She rolled out from behind the console gaining partial cover from the Valdren artifact and in one fluid motion activated the thermite grenade and threw it towards the drone which dodged nimbly out of the way. The grenade bounced once off the wall behind the drone, then opened and the chemical contents spread out in a flaming mass that engulfed the drone. It futilely attempted to maneuver but fell in a melted heap of slag with still burning bits landing on the deactivated shield generator. Drones have sensors that scan sixty degrees in an arc before them…it didn’t detect the threat from the grenade as it bounced off the wall and came from behind it. As the drone continued to burn, Eris saw Sev Tariv point his gauss assault rifle directly at her head. In her haste to destroy the lethal drone she had exposed herself at point-blank range
to her engineer.
“Sev, don’t…” Eris knew she couldn’t move fast enough to gain any cover. He was too close to her.
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy. The great Eris Monroe - Hero of the humans – time to die,” Sev had the same blank expression he wore on his face all the time. What emotion he was feeling was impossible to ascertain. A barely audible click indicated he had depressed the trigger but the weapon did not fire. When he looked down briefly at the gauss assault rifle, Eris ran at him full force with a flying kick, hitting him squarely in his chest plates. As he fell she rolled out gracefully to land on her feet - she drop-kicked him in the head as hard as she could. He began to bleed from the small slit the K’Tosk used as a nose. She didn’t want to kill him, though she didn’t mind if he wound up with a massive headache. K’Tosk were very difficult to hurt with their chitonous plating and Sev was still moving…though barely. He was reaching for his pistol when Eris body slammed him – knocking him into the hard rock of the mining tunnel ground. He finally appeared to lose consciousness.
Eris bent down and checked to make sure Tariv was unconscious. She saw Eli down the ramp smiling at her. He must have disabled Sev’s rifle. The buzz of wings meant that Gelkar had returned to the area – the scientist hovered right above the Valdren device.
“Is he…is he dead?” asked Gelkar incredulously, while buzzing in the air hovering two meters over the floor. His wings made a constant and loud hum in the closed-in space of the mining tunnels and control complex. The Arrasian had never seen such violence in humans before – at least this close and personal.
“No, he’s not dead…I want him alive. I want answers from him.” Eris was still breathing hard, and she was sure that her exertions had un-done the medical work of Doctor Xinhao. She could feel the wound in her side seeping blood again. She had escaped death once more.
“Nice work, Eli,” said Eris. “How is T’sell doing?” Eli had rushed up the slight slope to stand beside her. He had never used his sidearm.
“Uh, she’s better. Doc Xin gave her some meds that blocked her pain. She was having the same kind of symptoms and spasms that I was…” Eli looked at the unconscious Sev Tariv to Eris and then over at the Arrasian scientist Gelkar Ruz’zel. “I hate to bring this up, but the pain is getting worse again, and I want to get out of here.”
“We have to destroy the device, and then we can go.” Eris took out her last thermite grenade and walked over to the Valdren tech.
“The Valdren Initiator…you still want to destroy it…right?” asked Eli.
Eris nodded. “Think you can…” She pointed at her head with her left forefinger. Eli understood.
“I’ll see if it’s possible...” He began to concentrate on the device…and a slight tingle began to emanate at the back of his neck and spread down his spine. The Initiator was not self aware and certainly wasn’t an AI, though it did have complicated heuristic software that was difficult to penetrate. It took him a total of fifteen seconds to find a method for the device to destroy itself. To everyone else observing, nothing happened to the device except that the glowing green lights emanating from it slowly faded out and stopped completely.
“That should take care of it,” said Eli with satisfaction. “Um…wow, I think I just solved something kind of important…” His eyes had grown larger. Eris looked at him questioningly.
“What?”
“I think the Valdren Initiator was giving me the headaches…because the moment I killed it…the pain stopped.”
“That is interesting,” Eris noted that fact and tucked it away for later retrieval. It was a very interesting fact.
“Eris Monroe, why did your own companion try to kill you?” Gelkar had flown back down to stand beside the towering human woman. “And where did that drone come from?”
“I don’t know…that’s why I’m taking Tariv with us. Eli, are you sure the device is disabled?” She looked at Eli with a grim expression.
“Yes, though I’ve seen crazy things happen before around Valdren tech.” His eyes lit up with a new thought. “You think it might regenerate or come back to life?”
Eris nodded. “I’m not going to take any chances of that happening…or that someone might come along and study the leftover pieces. Both of you get back to Doctor Xin and T’sell. I’ll make sure this thing is turned into slag.” As Eli and the Arrasian scientist moved quickly down the slope and out of sight, Eris leaped to the top of the mining console nearest the Valdren Initiator.
Good thing I brought two of these she thought while positioning her last thermite grenade against the top of the Valdren artifact. She then pulled the pin after setting a delay of thirty seconds for timed detonation.
She dropped deftly back down to the floor and hefted the limp body of the K’Tosk Sev Tariv. She checked his pulse and looked at his eyes – he was unconscious but still breathing. She then used the ‘soldier’s carry’ lift technique and draped him across the top of her shoulders. If he seemed to burden her, she didn’t show it as she jogged down the slope back to her squad and the waiting Arrasian scientist. The sound of the thermite exploding made her glance back briefly. The Initiator was burning with a bright green flame and turning to molten metal. Hopefully between the thermite’s physical destruction of the casing and Eli’s mental powers, the Valdren device had been completely destroyed.
“Everyone, listen up.” She surveyed her remaining team members and the one new addition. She noted that T’sell T’savri was back on her feet and looking better, though she was scowling. “We’re heading back the way we came; we’ll be moving at double time,” ordered Eris forcefully.
“I’ve taken more physical samples from these transformed miners, Captain.” Lia Xinhao was talking at an accelerated rate. The adrenaline from combat was still coursing through her veins. “Once back on the Sparta, I should be able to fully analyze what happened to them.”
“Thank you Doctor. T’sell, are you capable of moving on your feet?” Eris was abrupt and wanted answers immediately.
“Yes, Captain…I can move well enough.” T’sell felt much better. Most of the pain had completely subsided. “I’m…I’m sorry that I wasn’t there when you needed me.” She felt ashamed and looked at the floor of the mine – she couldn’t meet the eyes of Eris Monroe.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve accomplished our mission, now it’s time to leave.” Eris was sincere and T’sell would have felt the sincerity even if she didn’t have telepathic awareness. She was learning to trust Captain Monroe with her life, something that the Zari woman had never dreamed of in her long life span. Trusting a human – one of the mindblind…
“Professor Ruz’zel is coming with us,” Eris said with a smile. She knew who he was. She had connected his name and face from a paper she had read back on Kanpur when she had been studying the Valdren data cube. He was a noted Arrasian researcher of the ancient Valdren. She turned to the small alien. “That is, if you want to know much more about the Valdren…”
Gelkar’s wings buzzed with excitement. The human Eris Monroe clearly was intelligent and seemed to be offering him a chance to learn. He cleared his membranes with a momentary rustle and looked up at her – she was much taller than he was.
“I would be more than glad to assist you, Eris Monroe, in any forensic tasks or experiments you need to perform,” Gelkar said with a slight bow. “Is it possible to go back and take my prototype shield generator?”
“No, I don’t think so…it was set on fire when I destroyed that drone – forget about it.” Eris said. Gelkar Ruz’zel looked morosely back at the sloping tunnel they had just come from. Gelkar then turned to all those present and bowed once more.
“I forget my manners…and should introduce myself first. I am Professor Gelkar…” Ruz’zel’s introduction speech was cut short by Eris.
“We don’t have time for that…we need to move fast. If you have to speak, use your link communicator. You do have a link, don’t you Gelkar?” Eris was in no mood for protoco
l. “There may be more of those transformed miners around and I don’t want them hearing us.”
“Yes, of course.” He looked down and turned his head in a way that would have strained a human neck. “Well…no…actually it was lost…along with my helmet…in the chaos that transpired two days ago.” He seemed intent on telling more of his story when Eris began trotting back the way they had originally come. The squad, along with the Arrasian scientist, followed her with military precision while Professor Ruz’zel wondered what type of instruments Doctor Xinhao had available on her ship. The human female Monroe was forceful and had made a strong impression upon him. He maintained his silence, mindful of what the human had said as he followed the group – all the while buzzing his wings slightly.
Pulsing orange link messages began appearing on all of their helmet displays once they had come within a kilometer of Platinum City. The amount of rock that had blocked the signals was becoming less massive, and they could communicate once more. Eris learned that Omega squad intended to rendezvous with her squad in Platinum City. Eris was quickly and thoroughly briefed on everything her Executive Officer had done, and what Chief Engineer Hasephrey Saephan had managed in her absence. With the success of destroying the Valdren device, Eris, her team, and the Arrasian scientist Gelkar Ruz’zel left the planet Furnace on the Starlifter - one step closer to the completion of goals that Dominic Gray had set out for them.
CHAPTER 24
Marcus J. Griffon had amassed an impressive résumé, rising through the ranks to command a top of the line Capital Ship and the Fast Attack Group in the Alliance Fleet. He commanded the Blackrock, a powerful battle-cruiser stationed in the Mirfak Quadrant. The fast attack group consisted of the Blackrock, cruisers Phenomenal, Serenity and Takaras as well as ten other smaller destroyer classed ships. All of the ships were under his unified command. Holdfast, the ten kilometer long pride of the Alliance and a feat of human ingenuity was his base of operations, but it was rapidly dwindling as Blackrock’s FTL drive propelled the massive ship toward an outpost three hundred sixteen light years distant. Marcus was nervous – he had never seen the Admirals order anything so odd in all of his forty-seven years…though now they had given explicit instructions to use the first line of defense for the Holdfast in an attack on a corporation owned base located past the fringe of Alliance controlled space. He had been ordered to use conventional FTL drive to circumvent arriving at known jump points. Utilizing his jump drives would have made the journey much faster, and also more easily discovered - the admirals wanted a surprise attack. His ship and crew were ready…they had seen combat numerous times against pirate raiders in the Verge and come out of every encounter victorious. However, something about the mission made him queasy. The Alliance had a tense relationship with Earth’s Republic but they had never provoked them into open conflict. Attacking an outpost operated and owned by one of the premier Republic corporations might fray the status quo into a full blown military confrontation. What he had been ordered to perform would likely be the opening salvo in a galactic war. He turned to his second in command who had a puzzled look on his weathered face.