by G. E. Stills
A week passed, and with all of the major Highborn communities destroyed, the major bloodshed ended. The alliance troops were hunting down and killing the few Highborn and their security forces that had gone into hiding.
****
Keish’ar and Rho’naa shared an embrace in the ship’s landing bay. Behind Rho’naa the shuttle that would transport her to the waiting destroyer readied for departure. The fast destroyer would take her to Stok’an.
“I hate leaving you,” she whispered in his ear.
Keish’ar placed his hands on her shoulders and held her at arm’s length. Her eyes were blurry with unshed tears. “I never thought I would see the day you’d shed a tear over leaving me.” He smiled. “You’ve changed since we first met. You were tough as nails back then.”
Rho’naa chuckled. “I’m still tough as nails, it’s just my feelings for you that have changed. When we first met, I despised you, now I love you. I will hate being away from you, but I haven’t seen my best friend for a long time.”
“I love you too. Please say hello to Tylee for me.”
“I will. It will be nice seeing her, but I’ll be back here in two weeks.”
“I look forward to that time, now go. The shuttle is waiting.” He spun her and directed her toward the boarding ramp.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Keish’ar met her at the landing bay and after a tearful hello, she strode beside him to his stateroom. When he patted the cushion on the couch beside him, she gratefully sat. “So bring me up to speed as to what’s happened while I’ve been gone.”
He pulled her close for another kiss before he continued. “Tomorrow, the first forty Men-gar ships leave for human space to join our allies in the fight against the bugs. Those forty won’t be the last. Admiral Martinez is going with them and he has left me in command here.”
“And he couldn’t have left a better person in charge.”
“Ship production has been resumed, but with changes. We have taken the best technologies of ours and Humans then integrated them on the new ships being produced. The arrival of a hundred robots has helped shift operation to a higher level. The first twenty-five new ships are slated to be complete next week.”
“What is next?”
Keish’ar leaned forward and retrieved a large control unit from the table in front of them. He pressed a button and the blank wall across the room blurred then solidified again forming a screen that took up the entire wall. He punched in a series of numbers and the screen showed a star chart. “I’ve placed good people in charge of leadership and operations here. I’ll be leaving with a fleet the end of this cycle for the next Men-gar system I plan to acquire. Eventually we’ll isolate the system containing the home planets and the seat of the Men-gar government.”
“You know it is just a matter of time before the Highborn discover what you’re doing. They won’t accept the end of their empire without a struggle.”
“I know, they’ve already sent a number of spaceships to investigate the lack of communication. I think we’ve been successful in capturing all of them. We’ve sent several sketchy and false dispatches about La’new invasions. I feel certain they are desperately trying to figure out how to deal with this new threat. In the meantime we hope they are unaware their empire is crumbling from within.”
“But sooner or later one of them at least will escape. They will find out their own people are revolting against them.”
A frown formed on Keish’ar’s face. “At that time, we will give them a choice, either subject themselves to the neural surgery and conditioning they have forced on the masses for millions of years or face annihilation. I trust you will be joining me?”
Rho-naa shifted and took his hand. “I’m sorry, hon, but I won’t, I just got a message from Blaise this morning. I’m being called back to Teelan to form a team.”
Keish’ar squeezed her hand tighter. “What sort of team?”
“I don’t know the details, but the plan is to perform clandestine attacks on the leadership on bug planets. We know from information gained, the bugs have a hive mentality. A few leaders, we call them queens and drones, on each planet direct everything and without them the common warrior bug is completely disorganized and ineffective. The plan is to assassinate the leadership. Our theory is with the head eliminated the body will die or at least be easy to destroy.”
“I think I know, but how do you plan to kill these queens and drones?”
“I’m certain the operation will be similar to what we did on Sto’kan, but instead of attacking the common warriors we’ll go after the leaders.”
She watched grave concern alter his expression. “And we both know they will be well protected and your mission will be extremely dangerous.”
She rubbed his arm. “Yes, it likely will, but, hon, that is what I do. It is what I have been trained for. I’ll worry about you too. Things could go wrong, you might encounter a Meg-gar fleet or worse yet, a bug fleet and get killed.”
They came together in an embrace and she whispered, “We are in a deadly war of survival. Either, or both of us could get killed. Let’s not dwell on that, but make love instead.”
“Not the same, I have an entire fleet for protection…”
She shushed him by placing a finger on his lips. “You’ve done such a fantastic job at integrating our two peoples,” she said to change the subject. “And such a rapid promotion, my goodness, to General no less.”
Keish’ar shook his head. “I had to think fast when I was making that first speech and I thought the rank of General would impress the masses of my importance. I had no idea at the time that Katrina would make it permanent.”
Rho’naa grinned as she recalled sending the dispatch to her aunt relaying all he had done. She had not told Keish’ar about it, nor would she. “I’m glad she did, hon, you deserve it. It’s hard for me to believe the people here have so readily accepted humans. That they are working beside them as if they had been doing it for years.”
“The videos they saw and the horror stories the survivors of Sto’kan described have them scared. They’ve heard how Humans came to rescue the survivors on Sto’kan and sacrificed their lives for Meg-gar people, that has impressed them. From the start the people of Moon’an have watched other Men-gar and Humans working beside each other to accomplish common goals.”
“And it doesn’t hurt that they know one of the top leaders in the alliance is a Men-gar.” She kissed him again. “One who happens to be the person I love.”
****
Her tearful, emotional parting with Keish’ar was followed by a month of boring travel. Her week on Teelan visiting her parents while waiting for the rest of the team to arrive passed quickly. With a last hug and tearful goodbye, Rho’naa climbed into the ground car.
“Destination please,” a robotic voice asked.
“Military headquarters building,” she answered toward the control panel in front of her.
“Yes, ma’am.” The car lifted a foot off the ground and swiftly flew toward her destination.
Rho’naa relaxed back in the seat and composed herself. It was always hard to say goodbye to her parents. This morning was no exception. The tears in her mother’s eyes were contagious. She wiped her own away on her sleeves and took a deep breath. Her father hadn’t cried, but his fierce hug told her how much he hated to let her go just the same. The miles whisked past and soon the ground car settled to the pavement in front of a massive building.
She entered the front doors and proceeded to the information desk. To her surprise it was manned by a person rather than a robot.
“Name and business please,” the man asked in a bored voice.
“Rho’naa Sutton. I have a meeting scheduled with Kyra Sutton.”
At the mention of Kyra the man sat up in his chair became suddenly animated. “Yes, ma’am.” He lifted a small box shaped unit
from under his desk, punched in some numbers on the keypad and handed it to her. “This trexler is now synced to the one Mistress Kyra has and will guide you to her location.”
Rho’naa took the box. “Thank you.”
She strode down the hallway following the verbal instructions of the guidance cube she held in her hand. Closed doors dotted both sides of the corridors she passed down. As always, Rho’naa was light on her feet, but even so, her track shoes emitted occasional squeaks on the floor tiles polished to a mirror finish. The voices of the groups of people she passed reached her ears as a soft murmur. She quickly became lost in speculative thoughts about her coming mission. The trexler provided intermittent verbal instructions as she paced briskly down one hallway after another to at last find Kyra waiting for her.
“Good morning, Rho’naa,” her grandmother said and smiled. “Are you ready to meet your team?”
“Good morning, ma’am, and yes.”
Kyra placed the palm of her hand on the entrance door beside her. It slid open and Rho’naa followed her into a meeting room. Eight people were seated along both sides of a table centered in the room with three additional seats. Stan and Madra she recognized the others she didn’t know. Each member of the team stood and shook her hand while Kyra introduced them and revealed their credentials. When finished, her grandmother indicated for her to take a seat at one end of the table. Kyra then proceeded to the head of the table, took a seat and began shuffling through the papers in front of her.
While she waited for Kyra to begin the briefing, Rho’naa studied each of the team members at the table. Kyra had assembled a team with impressive talents. Six of them had teleport ability. Four could cast fire. Three could heal, two could cast water and one had transmutation ability. All were highly trained special forces. Not as skilled at killing as her, but deadly just the same. Rho’naa tightened her lips. Whatever the mission was, it had to be dangerous in the extreme.
“Welcome,” Kyra said. “First let me summarize briefly our current situation. Our war with the Men-gar is winding down, thanks in large part to the efforts of a certain Men-gar individual and his assistant.” Kyra glanced at her and smiled. “Regrettably, a new, and far more dangerous threat has taken their place. The information I am going to share with you has been hard to gain. The La’new are an insect like organism. They have a written language, but no oral one, instead they communicate mentally. We haven’t determined the distance range of this mental communication at this time. Over a thousand kilometers for certain. The species is composed of three classes. The common workers and soldiers, the managers, slash order givers, or drones as we call them and the breeders or queens. The breeders are the ultimate leadership. Every member of the species has a voracious appetite and will consume anything living. Three of this team have had direct contact with the La’new. Do any of you have anything to add to what I’ve said so far?”
Kyra glanced at Stan, Madra and then at her. Each of them shook their heads.
“Then continuing. Once the eggs of the soldier-workers hatch they reach maturity in six months.”
“Wow,” one of the team said.
Kyra grimaced. “Thankfully they only live for a few years once they reach adulthood. The drones live about fifty years.”
“If they are that short lived then why are they a threat? They should have died out.”
Kyra sucked in her lip. “Because each queen lives several hundred years and during her lifespan she produces around five-hundred eggs a week. The incubation period for the eggs is six months. That means each queen produces five-hundred new adults each week. Each La’new only rests, not sleeps, but has a slow activity time of three hours per day. They have developed a huge ship production capacity.”
Rho’naa added, “We can destroy several thousand bugs and their ships in a battle and their losses are replenished in a matter of weeks at most. The only reason we were victorious on Sto’kan is because there was no queen there.”
Kyra frowned. “The tactics the La’new use are not brilliant, in fact they are often predictable, but they attack in overwhelming numbers. Their formation shifts are nearly flawless rivaling the coordination abilities of our computer moves. We know that the computers they have are nowhere near as sophisticated as our own. Our theory is they are able to do this because one central mind is in constant communication and controls the movements of all the fleet. In short, ladies and gentlemen, we are losing this war. There is no way we can match, let alone exceed their industrial capacity. The addition of Men-gar ships and crews helps, but even then we can’t keep up.”
Kyra paused and glanced at the commotion at the door. Tylee burst in.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” Tylee said as she rushed in. “My ship just arrived. I got here as fast as I could in answer to your summons, ma’am.”
Rho’naa shifted her gaze from Tylee to Kyra and arched an eyebrow. Kyra ignored her unspoken question.
Kyra smiled at Tylee. “I’m happy you could join us. Please have a seat.” She briefly repeated what she had already said to get Tylee caught up with her session. “Through risky manned and unmanned reconnaissance, we have been able to locate what we think is one of the La’new core worlds. We have named it Nest 1. It is deep in the region they control. The plan is to insert this team,” she glanced at Rho’naa. “Much like we did on Sto’kan. Your mission will be twofold, one gather intelligence. Two, if possible, seek out and destroy the queens there.”
Rho’naa sucked in her breath noisily and glanced around at the team. She recalled how well the drones had been protected on Sto’kan and logically, how much more security the queens would have. Even with this team the chances of destroying a queen was improbable.
“I know what you’re thinking, Rho’naa, and I agree, except we have developed a new weapon to use against them. At this point it is experimental, using it on the La’new and observing the results is a critical part of your mission.”
“What is this new weapon?” one of the team asked.
“Something our researchers have developed. It is dispensed in aerosol form and when sprayed on a La’new it is highly corrosive to their exoskeleton and crystalizes their blood. At least that is the theory.”
Rho’naa’s jaw dropped open. “We’re going to use chemical weapons against them? Even the old governments on Earth banned the use of chemical weapons.”
Kyra grimaced. “We have no choice. It is either that or face extinction.”
“How does this chemical affect non-bugs?” she asked.
“It is not detrimental to the skin of any other species we know. However, prolonged exposure is not recommended. It is harmful to mammalian respiratory systems.” Kyra opened a drawer behind her and placed an apparatus on the table. “Each of you will be supplied with a breathing unit like this.” She held it up. “The mask part securely attaches and covers the mouth and nose. The filtering part attaches to the back and is connected by a tube as you can see.”
Rho’naa commenced rapid-fire questions concerning the breathers. “How effective are they and how long will they supply filtered air?”
“Their effectiveness is one-hundred percent and the life of each filter is eighty hours. At that time it is simply a matter of replacing the filter.”
“And can they supply filtered air adequate to the person’s needs under physically strenuous conditions, such as close combat?”
“Yes. Tested and confirmed.”
A member of the team motioned for attention.
Kyra directed her gaze at the woman.
“Yes?”
Darla asked, “If we’re going to use chemicals why not just saturate the planet’s atmosphere and kill the bugs from space rather than risk ground forces?”
“Excellent question. The chemical breaks down and degrades quickly, rendering it ineffective and becomes undetectable in an hour’s time. This is to prevent the La’new from t
racing it and developing a defense against it. It must be used in a confined area such as in a building or ship. It must come into contact with the target soon after it is dispensed.”
Darla nodded.
“Our newest arrival is Tylee. She has the rare ability of inter-dimension travel. We hope there are other dimensions accessible to nest one that will provide a safe haven.” After further lecture and a few more questions, Kyra brought the meeting to a close. “Further details and updates will be provided during your journey to nest one. Proceed from here to supply where you will be equipped with the items for your mission. Requests for personal weapons and other items you deem critical are also at supply. You depart tomorrow morning at oh-eight-hundred on the destroyer Silencio. Your Trexlers will guide you to supply and to the quarters where you will be bunked for the night. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you all the best. This meeting is adjourned.”
The team members filed from the room, but Rho’naa held back. When they were alone she said, “Why is Tylee on this mission? She isn’t even military and has no training, special or regular. She’s a civilian, ma’am.”
Kyra pursed her lips. “Tylee is not a civilian. She enlisted a month ago on Sto’kan.”
“Still—”
“I know she is your close friend. I know you hate putting her in danger. She was not my first choice. Regrettably, the woman I chose with the same ability is dead. She was on a planet overrun by the La’new and didn’t survive. I don’t like that Tylee has no special training, but in interest of the mission’s success I have no choice but to include her in your team.”
“Another thing, ma’am, why do you always refer to them as La’new? Why not just call the vile creatures bugs like the rest of us do?”
There was no humor in Kyra’s smile. “Because I’m in upper command and must refer to them with the official name of their species. I do not however, object to the rest of you referring to them as bugs. To me they are despicable creatures and their species needs to be cleansed from existence.”