The Archeon Codex: Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel Book 2

by Phillip Nolte

  "Likewise," replied Ariane.

  In the meantime, Zack had removed the helmet of his armor. "This is my partner, Lieutenant Zachary Lynton," said Ariane. Kozloff and his companion both acknowledged the introduction by nodding in Zack's direction. Ariane continued, "Please remove your suits and get comfortable. As you say, there are many things we need to discuss, and we have some...people we'd like you to meet."

  Zack went about removing and stowing his armor while the Soviets finished shedding their suits and stowing them in lockers in the suit prep area. After that, they were escorted aft by the two Federation officers and upwards to a large meeting room on the second deck.

  "I must say that I have never been in a ship this well-appointed," said Kozloff, marveling at the décor and the quality of Capri's furnishings. "Wherever did you get her?"

  "I inherited it," said Zack. When he saw Kozloff's puzzled look, he added, "It's a long story."

  The four of them stopped on the large landing at the top of the ladder leading upwards from deck one to deck two. Ariane glanced back and forth between the two Soviets and said, "You're about to meet two of our new allies. They're called 'Hordea' and they are...intelligent plants."

  "Intelligent plants?" said Kozloff, "Surely you make a joke?"

  "No," said Zack, "we're not, and even though you weren't personally responsible, I suggest you apologize to them immediately for the attack on their ship."

  "By all means," said Kozloff.

  Ariane led the way down the offset corridor to the doorway into the meeting room. Inside were Hordean Representative Salix and Guardian Quercia. The two Soviets were astounded by the aliens, though the shock might have been even worse if they hadn't already encountered a half dozen completely different aliens onboard their own ship.

  Zack performed introductions. Afterwards, Kozloff addressed the two Hordea. "I deeply regret our attack on your spacecraft. Unfortunately, my ship was temporarily under the influence of a madman who had allied himself with one of these 'Custodian' creatures. I sincerely hope you can forgive us for that horrible mistake."

  The two Hordea seemed to be thinking over their response when Zack came in on the side of the Soviet captain. "We had to deal with a similar situation involving another Soviet ship only a month ago."

  "Murmansk," replied Kozloff. "My crew showed me the video you sent."

  "We had to do something to get your attention," said Zack.

  "Well, that certainly did the trick. Do you have any idea what happened on Murmansk?"

  "We don't know for sure," said Ariane. "Before you found five more of the creatures hidden on your ship, we had no idea where so many of them could have come from. Given this new information, it's safe to assume there was a conscious Custodian on Murmansk who revived its sleeping companions. When they were at full strength, they murdered everyone on board except the young engineer you saw in the video. They then launched an attack on us immediately after they got control of the ship."

  Kozloff considered the ramifications of what he had just heard before responding, realizing with a shock that his own ship would probably have suffered the same fate sooner or later if these Federation people hadn't intervened. "Murmansk was under the command of my old friend, Sergei Popov. It grieves me to hear he was killed."

  Zack and Ariane exchanged a look.

  "Actually, there were two survivors from the ship, Captain," said Ariane. "One of them was your friend Sergei Popov and the other was a scientist, Dr. Olga Dostoyevski."

  "How is it they managed to survive?" asked Kozloff.

  "They were with us on a moon in the Sol system called "Deimos" when Murmansk self-destructed."

  "They were with you?"

  "Yes, they'd left the ship a day earlier to join our...archeological mission. We took cover in a cave inside the moon after Murmansk started attacking everything in sight."

  "A cave, you say?"

  Yes, the moon has been extensively excavated, we can tell you more about it later."

  "I look forward to it," said Kozloff.

  "How did these monsters get onto our ships?" asked Tatiana.

  "I think you already know that," said Ariane. "We're afraid the Political arm of the Soviet military has been infiltrated by these creatures and the humans who are collaborating with them. We don't know how widespread or how high up the problem goes, but we're afraid the infiltration could be quite extensive."

  Kozloff wearily dropped onto a seat at the table as he began to grasp the implications.

  "Sergei has joined forces with us to combat these creatures," said Ariane. "Would you be willing to join us as well?"

  "If my government can no longer be trusted, I would seem to have little choice. My crew is badly disoriented. First, I was removed from command, and then my political officer was found to be harboring one of these Custodian creatures. Please, I beg some time to think."

  From their early contact with the humans on Capri, the two Hordea had already learned how to interpret chemical signatures well enough to gauge human emotion."

  Salix spoke up, "I sense that you are distraught, Captain Kozloff. I also sense that you are being truthful about your attack upon our ship. Since we must find a way for our two species to interact, we will not hold you responsible for the attack on our ship."

  Kozloff let out a sigh of relief. "I thank you profusely for understanding the situation."

  At that moment, Gertrude called down from the bridge. "Captain Kozloff? I just received a communication from your ship. A Lieutenant Grasmik is asking for you. He says it's urgent."

  We can have her route the communication down here to the meeting room if you like," said Zack.

  "Please, Lieutenant, make it so."

  Chapter 27. Hacker Extraordinaire.

  New Belgrade Orbital Station Security Offices, October 8, 2676.

  Felix Spaski took a moment to collect his thoughts before attempting to tell Eva what he'd learned.

  "You know all of the changes that've been going on around here?" he said. "The shakeup in command, the crackdown on regulations and all the new faces we've been seeing?"

  "We've both been in this business a long time, Felix, these things happen from time to time. You just have to roll with it."

  "This time it's different," said Spaski. "A whole lot different, and in a really bad way."

  Eva, now curious, and becoming concerned asked, "What exactly do you mean?"

  "My friend showed me a video clip of some strange and horrifying events that went down on a Soviet ship about a month ago." Spaski paused and took a deep breath, "The ship had been taken over by members of an alien race." Eva's look instantly went from curious to skeptical. Spaski continued, "Here, take a look at this video."

  He ran Sergei's video on his tablet for her. Afterwards, Eva looked at him with a shocked expression for a long moment before bursting into laughter. "Good one, Felix, you actually had me going there for a minute." Her smile disappeared when she saw Spaski's grim expression hadn't changed. "Wait, you mean you're serious about this? This video is real?"

  "It's real, and I'm deadly serious. If the information had come from anyone but my friend, I would have had the same reaction you just did."

  "Tell me more."

  Spaski went on to explain the story Sergei had shared with him of the Amalgamation and the Custodians and the citizenship affair.

  "And your friend thinks the political arm has been infiltrated by these...creatures?"

  "Yes, and he's deathly afraid they're on the verge of escalating their activities."

  "What can we do?"

  "It would be really nice if we had concrete proof some of these creatures are here on Belgrade Station."

  "How do you propose we go about accomplishing that?"

  "They're allied with the political officers. I think if we're going to find them anywhere, it'll be over in the political wing of this very building."

  The political wing of the Soviet Navy was a separate and imposing structure gr
afted onto the larger facility Kryslov and Spaski were currently in.

  "Good luck with that one. No one gets into politico territory without a damned good reason."

  "I know, but they must have some kind of security surveillance over there. You know, audio, video. They don't trust anybody else, why should their own people be any exception?"

  "Okay, so they've got security feeds. What good does that do us?"

  "Let's see if my man is actually in the brig. If he is, I'm pretty sure he could help. The guy really is a whiz with all kinds of tech."

  "Let's go check the brig."

  The two of them made their way down the remaining stairs and went a short way down a wide corridor to the brig entrance. Here Eva used her chip to let them in. To Spaski's immense relief, Petty Officer Bobrik was in the only occupied cell. The little tech was sound asleep.

  "On your feet, Bobrik," said Spaski in a quiet but authoritative voice. The petty officer stirred before elbowing himself partially upright and opening one bleary eye.

  "Chief Spaski?" he said, after he got the eye to focus. "Man, am I ever glad to see you!"

  "We heard you'd been drinking."

  Bobrik's thought processes weren't nearly up to speed as yet. He was lost in muzzy concentration for a long moment before saying, "One beer, Chief, I swear." He frowned in thought a little longer and added, "One of the guys that dragged me off shot me up with something on the way here."

  "Can you give him a stimulant, Eva?"

  "I can, but he isn't going to like how he feels when it wears off."

  "I don't know that we have much choice."

  Eva touched her chip to a reader on the outside of Bobrik's cell and the cell door swung inwards. By now, Bobrik was sitting on the edge of the sleeping pallet, wobbling slightly and holding his head in his hands. "Hold still, sailor," she said, "I'm going to give you something to sober you up."

  "You can shoot me with a pulse pistol if you want," groaned Bobrik. "Anything would be better than this."

  Kryslov left the cell, went into the security office across the room from Bobrik's cell and used her chip to access a medication locker in the wall. Down in the brig, drugs were not only required but were administrated on a regular basis. Sometimes to sober up a drunken crewman, other times to subdue someone who became violent after too much alcohol. Still others were used to counteract the all too frequent drug overdose.

  Not knowing what had been used on the tech, she selected a dispenser that administered a general purpose stimulant. She then came back down the short hallway and reentered Bobrik's cell. There she pushed up the left sleeve of his uniform and triggered the delivery pad of the dispenser into the muscles on the inside of his forearm.

  "Ouch!" said Bobrik. The mild burn of the dispenser snapping against his arm woke him up more fully. He pulled his sleeve back down and rubbed his forearm with his other hand.

  "How long before that takes effect?" asked Spaski.

  "He'll be sober and be even more alert than normal within the next ten minutes."

  "That gives us time to find an unused terminal. Have you got one somewhere we can use without being too obvious?"

  "You are suggesting we have Bobrik hack into the systems over in the political wing?"

  "I am."

  "You know they have some of the tightest security of any branch of the Navy."

  "That could work to our advantage."

  "I don't see how."

  "Their protections are supposed to be so good that no one would even think of trying to hack them. That and the penalties for trying are harsh. I'll wager it's been so long since anyone tried that they've gotten lax. If we can get in and get out with some evidence, we could blow the lid off the entire operation."

  "Is your man that good?"

  "How about we ask him? If he isn't sure, we go no further with this."

  "You don't need to ask," said Bobrik. "I was listening."

  "Well, can you do it?"

  "I'd really like to take a crack at it."

  Eva took a moment and used her tablet to bring up a schematic of the building, "Okay, there's a terminal in the supervisor's office over in supply, just down the corridor and around the corner. That office should be empty this time of night. If our man can switch off the security down in that area, we'd probably have ten to fifteen minutes." She thought for a moment. "Do you suppose you could find the recordings of us getting you out of this cell, and the records of my access chip usage, and alter them to keep us from being seen or tracked?"

  "Get me to that terminal," said Bobrik, his eyes already brighter and his manner sharper as the stimulant began to really kick in.

  The three of them left the brig and headed a short way down the main corridor where they took a branch to the right. At the end of the branch was a plain, solid door with the word "Supplies and Shipping" stenciled onto it. Eva again used her chip to give them access to a chamber filled with routine inventory goods and paraphernalia. In a small, cluttered office off on one side was a grungy, battered computer terminal.

  "Have at it, Bobrik," said Spaski.

  The tech slid into the equally grungy, battered chair and switched the terminal on. After a few seconds the monitor lit up, the logo of the Soviet Navy filling the screen.

  "What is it you need me to do?" asked Bobrik, who had by this time sobered up completely. He was alert, and his movements on the keyboard were swift and sure.

  Eva and Spaski looked at one another. Up to this point, apart from taking Bobrik out of his cell -- something they could easily explain away -- they hadn't done anything they could get into real trouble over. As soon as the tech attempted to access forbidden security files, they'd all be in a lot of trouble if they were caught.

  "Are we really sure we want to do this?" asked Eva.

  Chapter 28. Death of a Custodian.

  Capri, Deep Space, Star system X97610, October 8, 2676.

  The four humans and two Hordea in Capri's meeting room all turned their attention to the large viewscreen on the aft wall of the meeting chamber. Within seconds, the image of Pytor Grasmik filled the screen.

  "Kozloff, here. What is your emergency, Lieutenant?"

  Grasmik looked around at the assemblage in the meeting room, eyes widening at the sight of the two Hordea.

  "These are two of the occupants of the ship we were pursuing, Lieutenant."

  "Are we clear to speak, Captain?" asked Grasmik.

  "These...people...are all our friends, Lieutenant, you may speak freely."

  "The...creature down in our brig appears to have died suddenly."

  "Died? How?"

  "Unknown, Captain. We suspect it may have been a suicide."

  "I'll be back as soon as I can, Lieutenant."

  "Yes, sir," said Grasmik. He killed the connection.

  Kozloff looked around at the group in the meeting room. "As you can see, I must get back to my ship immediately."

  "With respect, Captain," said Ariane, "I'd like to accompany you." Seeing his doubtful look, she continued, "The Custodians are enemies of us all. If we're going to fight them, we need as much information about them as possible. As of right now, we've never seen one of these creatures in the flesh, so to speak."

  Kozloff appeared to be weighing the pros and cons in his head. Before he could make a decision, Salix also spoke up."

  "I should also like to accompany you, Captain Kozloff," she said. "Members of our race are quite proficient in biochemistry and physiology. I may be able to help with your investigation. Do not forget my people are also at war with these creatures."

  Kozloff looked back and forth between Ariane and Salix.

  "We're looking at a new paradigm here, Captain," said Ariane. "All of us are on the same side now."

  Meeting two sets of aliens and forming an alliance with Federation personnel over the space of a few hours was quite a lot to assimilate. Kozloff realized he was in uncharted space, and input from the people and the other beings in this room would be invaluabl
e. "Very well," he said, looking as though the situation were anything but. "The two of you may accompany us. We must leave at once." He looked Salix. "We do not have a docking tube connecting this ship to our shuttle. Do you have a spacesuit?"

  "I will not require one, Captain. I can simply create a temporary envelope to protect me from open space. It will function for several hours, longer if need be."

  "Come along then, all of you. We've already wasted enough time."

  The four humans and the Hordean made their way down to the suit preparation area next to the airlock. While Zack helped his fellow humans get suited up, Salix stood in one spot and extended all six of her long manipulator tentacles, stretching them enough to bring them together into a point above her foliar tassel. While the humans watched, the ends of each of the tentacles opened out into feathery fronds which she used to trace a pattern in the air around her, starting above the tassel and ending at the deck. Within seconds, the pattern she'd traced congealed into a sort of clear, elongated bubble totally enveloping her. The flexible shell of the bubble then shrank as it molded itself to her shape until it had become a barely perceptible transparent envelope. As she glided towards the airlock door, it was readily apparent that the organic "spacesuit" she'd just created didn't hamper her movements in the least.

  Zack remained behind while the others cycled through the airlock and looked across the gap to the Soviet shuttle silhouetted against the blackness of deep space. The humans each clipped a tether to the line Kozloff and Nuriyev had used earlier, and began to pull themselves across the gap between the two spacecraft. When all the humans had arrived in the shuttle airlock, they looked back at Salix, who had remained in Capri's airlock until all the humans completed transferring. Kozloff and Nuriyev looked on in open astonishment as the Hordean grasped the tether with three of her manipulator tentacles and, by alternately grasping and releasing the cable, spun herself along the safety line, rapidly traversing the distance between the ships. Ariane, already familiar with the technique from having seen it used several times already, looked on in mild amusement as the Soviets got a first-hand look at the some of the capabilities of their new allies.