Warrior Chronicles 4: Warrior's Wrath

by Shawn Jones

“Yes, sir.”

  “Then get your wounded back to Solitude and rethink your priorities. Dismissed.”

  When Mike was out of earshot Cort turned to Lex and said, “What did he cost us?”

  “Probably not much, in truth. This battle could only go one way, and there was very little we could do about it. If we were alone, without the wolves I mean, it might have been different. The undergrowth here is just too dense. CONDORs don’t have a problem in it, but for the pups it is almost like running in water. Until we got the incendiaries, it was mostly up to the H’uumans. I was going to talk to you about Mike later, for what it is worth.”

  “You were in a bad spot Lex,” Cort said. “And it is probably my fault. I haven’t been running things like a regular military. I wasn’t cut out for this. My units were always small. No bigger than a company, and usually closer to platoon strength. Two sergeants side by side can figure shit out, but two generals can’t.”

  “You and I do, sir.”

  “But I’m not really a general, Lex. I like having you guys lead from the front because that is how it works for me. When you get to the kind of strength numbers we are dealing with though, Generals are mostly paper-pushing pussies. I’ve tried to keep it from happening here, but I failed. I think it is the nature of the beast.”

  “So how do we fix it?” Lex asked.

  “We don’t yet. We have to fight this war the way we started it. Once it is over, we will reassess our command structure, as well as our tables of operations and equipment.”

  “In the mean time,” Lex said, “We need to clean out those fucking caves, and it is going to cost us a lot.”

  “Yeah.”

  Earth

  “Detective Thorn is here to see you sir.”

  Dar Sike looked up from his flexpad and said, “Send him in.”

  Once Thorn was shown into his office, Dar put the screen down and shook the visitor’s hand. “How are you, Detective?”

  “To be honest, I wish you had never asked me to work on this, Mr. Sike.”

  “I wish I did not need to. But two thousand missing people need you.”

  “Three thousand two hundred and ninety two sir. Another apartment building was attacked last Tuesday. And that is just what I know of so far. I am certain this has been going on for a while.”

  “Where was it this time?” Dar asked.

  “Helsinki. Well, a suburb.”

  “What have you learned?”

  “Not a damned thing, and I mean that. Not a single damned thing. I have access to every vid feed there is and I cannot find anything. I have even confiscated one feed that shows a woman in Oahu masturbating as she disappears.”

  Dar raised his eyebrows questioningly and Thorn said, “She was a sex worker. Doing holocam work. I only found out about it because the guy who was paying to watch complained to the company that ran the cam. He thought she disappeared because she was a construct, so he made a complaint that he was getting ripped off. I guess getting the real thing is an actual fetish for some men.”

  Dar hesitated but asked, “What did you see in the vid, I mean, other than the Hawaiian girl?”

  Thorn shrugged and said, “Nothing. She was there one millisecond and gone the next. No look of surprise, no fear, no pain. She was just gone. There was a mirror in the background that showed most of the room, and there was no one else there. The vibrator she was using hit the bed and kept buzzing.”

  Dar turned his chair around poured two drinks. Offering one to Detective Thorn, he said, “Well, I hope you at least got a good show out of it.”

  “I never thought of you as a funny man, Superintendent. This is good,” Thorn said as he took a drink. “What is it?”

  “It’s a single malt whiskey from Solitude. Kimberly Addison sends it back with me every time I am there. Do you smoke cigars, Thorn?”

  “No sir, but my wife does.”

  Dar opened the humidor behind him and pulled out a wooden box. Pushing it across the desk he said, “Give her these. They are also from Solitude.”

  “You live well, sir. Thank you. She has been wanting a Solitude cigar for some time. I was going to buy her one for our next anniversary.”

  “Are they that expensive still? I had no idea. Since the family owns the planet, I never see a bill.”

  “Can I ask you something, sir?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Are you really that rich? I mean, I hear stories, but you know how that goes with the press. What is the real story?” Thorn asked.

  “Technically, Cort Addison is that rich. He honestly owns it all. But in practice, the Addisons are very wealthy. With the interests we have across the galactic arm now, we possess more than the sum wealth of the rest of humanity combined.”

  “Did it really all start with one person?”

  “Yes. Cort had a brief affair with the security guard assigned to him before he transitioned to our time. He did not have much in the way of family at the time, so he left everything to her. Even then, it was a lot of money. He was a multimillionaire by his standards or ours. She became pregnant and decided to start the family trust, so he would be sure to have something waiting for him when he arrived. I doubt she had any idea how far it would go, though.”

  “My wife has a cousin who married an Addison. Bastard pisses me off. He is one of the ones who flaunts the money quite a bit.”

  “Well, we do have those. Even in the blood descendents, unfortunately. My son-in-law was one for that matter. He died in a flight accident shortly after Rand graduated college. He was showing off a new flight and lost control in a storm. He was good to my daughter, though.”

  “I apologize. I did not mean to bring up bad memories, sir.”

  “It is okay, Thorn. He was an ass,” Dar said. “Probably much like your wife’s cousin. The trust tries to weed them out, but it is not always successful. Actual blood members of the family have a heavy burden to bear if they want to fully realize the benefits of the trust. They must acquire doctorates, they must work summers in one of our charities, things like that. Not everyone makes it. In fact, some do not even try. I have a brother who turned his back on the trust the moment he came of age. Lex’s father is the smartest of all my siblings, but he is a drunk. The last I heard of him, he was a beach bum in the Caribbean. He no longer even gets his stipend because Cort changed the rules and forbade anyone who is convicted of a violent crime from benefitting from the trust.”

  “He was a criminal?”

  “Yes. He was drunk and crashed a two wheeler into a crowd of children.”

  Thorn looked at his glass and said, “Some people should not drink. Not even synthetics can fix stupidity.”

  “Agreed,” Dar said. “But we have gotten off topic. What is your next step?”

  “You gave me an idea. Is there any vid of a jump? Or a transition like General Addison made?”

  Dar saw where Thorn was going and said, “If there is, I will find it and make it available to you. Detective, at this point I have not told Cort about the disappearances. He has enough going on with the Tapon war. But it is my understanding that it is winding down. Once I have brought him into the loop, I suspect he will want to meet you.”

  “I look forward to that, sir.”

  Nill

  “Here is the multi-spectrum map of the tunnels,” Lex said. “The Nill didn’t even know about them. Revised numbers show there are at least five thousand Tapons inside, and we cannot see beyond this point, though I am sure the tunnels continue. They are just shielded somehow.”

  “What about a tachyon scan?” Cort asked.

  “I do not have anything planetside that can throw one, and Captain Sars on the Sorano says enemy jump drives are interfering with scanners, so getting one from a ship is out of the question too.”

  “Well, let’s clear out what we can see then. Then we will worry about the hidden tunnels.”

  “Yes, sir. I have an Alpha recon company for you, heavy. They go by Badger Company, and are all in the FALC
ON 4s. That should help with the Tapon energy weapons.”

  The latest iteration of the Flexible Armor Light COmbat Nanosuit had an outer layer that was literally thousands of layers of graphene sandwiched between thousands of layers of copper. It allowed them to absorb nearly eight times the energy that the previous FALCONs could. They also had heavier capacitive power packs, to store that additional energy. If the wearer was using an energy weapon instead of a projectile weapon, it could also channel the power into an attached weapon system.

  “You know,” Cort said. “That suit is supposed to be the light combat system. It wasn’t meant for this kind of use.”

  Before Lex could respond, his comm activated. “Sike here. Go,” he said. “Okay send her down.”

  Cort looked up when he heard, “Send her down.” When Lex disconnected he said, “That had better not be who I think it is.”

  Lex smiled and said, “No sir, it is not Kim. Speral is here. She wants to talk to us.”

  Cort sighed and said, “Thank the gods. I could not have dealt with my wife right now. She seems to think that what we are doing is dangerous.”

  Lex laughed and said, “What would give her that idea? In your case it is more like a spa day. Every time you get hurt, you end up prettier.”

  Cort laughed, “I know, right?”

  “Are you going to wait for Speral or go in now?”

  “How long will it take her to get here?” Cort asked.

  “Her shuttle is above the city now, so I would guess fewer than ten minutes.”

  “Let’s go eat, then. The caves can wait an extra half hour.” Activating his comm Cort ordered, “Badger company, this is Ares. Hit the mess and get some fuel, we roll in thirty minutes.”

  --

  They were still in Lex’s command module when Speral arrived. She was in her own FALCON 4 with the mask pulled back, only the alabaster skin of her face and the tips of her dorsal barbs showing. “Cortland, Lex, it is good to see you both,” she said.

  After Lex and Cort both greeted her, Cort said, “I didn’t think you wanted to come back here, Speral.”

  “I did not, but my people are fighting a war.” She paused and added, “You. Not my species. I can be of use to you.”

  “I see. How can you help us?” Cort asked.

  “The Nill are not going to be honest with you about the Tapons. But I know the truth, and it is time that you do as well.”

  “Will it affect how to fight the war?”

  “No Cortland, but it may affect if you fight the war.”

  “No Speral, it will not. I am not fighting this war to protect the Nill. I am fighting it to exterminate the Tapons. It is just happenstance that I am killing them on Nill. But if you think I should know the history of the Nill conflict with them, I will listen.”

  “I see. I believed your vow to make them extinct to be hyperbole.”

  “No. They hurt my son and tried to kill Kim. They will all die.”

  “Why did you not make good on your promise to exterminate the H’uumans then, Cortland?”

  “I never promised that. I promised to exterminate the Cuplans, and I did. And for them, it was simply war. They never set out to fight me personally, they just tried to control the galactic arm.”

  “The Tapons are fighting for a much smaller goal. They only want this planet back, Cortland. A planet that my people took from them. It would seem they are much less a threat to the federation than the Cuplans were.”

  “The Tapons have actually united the federation in ways only war can, Speral. But for the Addisons, for our pack, this war is personal. Very personal.”

  Speral regarded Cort for a moment before turning to an aide that was standing in front of a holographic representation of the tunnel system. “Are you an Addison, Lieutenant?”

  The surprised tactical officer looked at Cort questioningly. When he nodded, she said, “No, ma’am. I am not an Addison.”

  “Then why do you fight for General Addison in this personal war?”

  The lieutenant thought for a few seconds before responding. “This war is personal for General Addison, but that does not mean it is not a just war. The Tapons are a threat to humanity, and they colluded with the Blatterians to undermine the security of the Ares Federation. Through subterfuge and battle, we are nullifying the threat they represent.”

  “Do you still feel they are a threat to you?” Speral asked.

  The junior officer was feeling bolder and more confident, so she asked, “How long ago did your people take this planet from the Tapons, ma’am?”

  Speral closed her eyes and read the information from her eyelids. “It has been over three million human years.’

  “So if even one mating pair of Tapons is left alive, they are still a threat to us, because they can hold grudges for over three million years. If I can touch a firing stud today and know that I am protecting my great grandchildrens’ great grandchildren from a vengeful species, why would I do anything less?”

  Cort and Lex had listened to the exchange and were impressed with the answer the young woman gave. Cort had a battle to fight though, and decided to hurry things along. “Speral, I am about to lead a group of Marines into a cave system nearby. Is there anything in the history of your people that can help me with that?”

  “Show me the caves, please.”

  Lex turned to the map table and signalled the lieutenant to call up a map of the area so Speral could see where the caves were in relation to the city. “They are here, Speral. We can map them to this point, but not further.”

  Speral looked at the map and said, “So that is where they are.”

  “Excuse me?” Cort asked.

  “We have long known there was a colony of Tapons on the planet, but we have never known where they were. For eons we have seen signs of them, but were never able to find where they lived. It must be in those caves. Occasionally our young would disappear in the forest. I think the Tapons that fled into them must have known there were allies there as well.”

  “How did you know there were still Tapons on the planet?” Cort asked.

  “The Core told us.”

  “It told you?”

  “Yes. The Core is a kind of...god to the Nill, Cortland. We protected it. In exchange for our protection, it allowed us to use it for communication and transport. That was the agreement we had with it.”

  “You mean it is alive?” Lex asked.

  “It is. Although it is quite damaged now. When I learned where the Tapons had taken Dalek, it told me that it had lost much of its connection to the universe. It said the Tapons had sent a worm to attack it.”

  Cort was becoming very interested now. He asked the major in charge of the Badgers to join them in the command module and that the mission into the caves was to be delayed. Once the major joined them, he told Speral to tell her story. “Start at the beginning, Speral. Tell us everything.”

  “It would take me years to tell you everything, Cortland, But I will share the relevant history with you.”

  --

  It was an incredible story. For the Nill, it began when the Tapons appeared among them and took their young. Once on the Tapon planet, they were first pets, then servants to the kidnappers. Many of the young died in those first years, until a microbe was found by Tapon scientists that allowed the Nill to survive in the planet’s atmosphere. The relationship with the microbe was symbiotic and led to the poisonous properties of the Nill dorsal spines.

  After several thousand years of enslavement, the Nill occupied all positions of subservience on the planet, including the job of maintaining the planet’s library core. From its cooling system to replacing faulty nodes, the Nill were responsible for everything except programming the library. At that time, the library became self-aware and began to study the world and universe around it. Finally, when the library realized it was being used by the Tapons, it decided to act. It fouled the control of its own cooling system, which sent a party of Nill workers to the area of the breakdown. Whi
le there, the library made contact with the workers via a data terminal. After talking to various Nill for several years, the library notified the Tapons that their Nill servants were planning a revolt. It then suggested the Nill be fitted with what became known as ocular bridges.

  To the Tapons the bridges appeared to be, and in fact functioned as, neural control devices. But to the library and the few Nill who were a part of the conspiracy, they became a means of communication. By closing their eyes, the Nill could read data fed to them by the library. In order to feed information back to the library, early ocular bridges required the Nill to speak, but in later versions of the device, the Nill were able to use eye movement to communicate with the living computer and each other.

  At the same time, the library began to feed other false information to the Tapons, including atmospheric data, causing them to began dumping gases into the air that would benefit the Nill and their microbes, while weakening the Tapons, who had already began an evolutionary process of skeletal and muscular atrophy.

  At a time when the Australopithecus afarensis Lucy was walking across Ethiopia’s Afar Depression on Earth, the Nill revolted. The library shut down data to the Tapons, while the Nill spent one of their deadly dorsal spines on each Tapon they encountered. Only one colony of Tapons survived, on a planet so far from the homeworld, and so desolate, that neither the Nill or the library computer believed the exiles would ever be able to reach for the stars again.

  With the planet finally their own, the library and the Nill developed a society in which the computer became known as the Core, and in exchange for its own independence and the protection of the Nill, the Core provided the now free species with a means to communicate with each other and to travel among the stars.

  --

  “Wow,” Cort said an hour later. “I can see why they want revenge now. It’s too bad for them that they decided to involve me. If they had left Dalek alone and not tried to undermine our ties to the Collaborative Government, I wouldn’t have cared about their grudge with the Nill. Especially after they banished you.”

  “Thank you for that, Cortland.”

  “How many Tapons were killed?” Cort asked.