The Darkness: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 2)

by William S Frisbee Jr

  "You don't think they are assassins anymore?" Pavlis asked.

  "Those aren't Bronkaw and none of my other enemies have the resources to assemble a fleet like that," Luke said. "I'm guessing it is some empire lurking in the dark systems."

  Luke nodded and stared at the display for several minutes before he got up and left. Shum followed him like a shadow.

  "Why are you so obsessed with the incident?" Shum asked. "If they had probes, they would have known where we are. That fleet is no longer our problem."

  "Perhaps," Luke said. "I have a bad feeling."

  * * * * *

  "Are humans always this paranoid?" Shum asked as they walked down the corridor. Luke looked up at the Pral.

  "Have you ever fought an opponent that was more numerous, or more technologically superior to you?" Luke asked.

  "The Tal always fight more numerous opponents, but our technological edge is always superior," Shum said. Lesser races always had an advantage in numbers or they would never dare attack. The lesser races always thought numbers would help them overcome a technologically superior foe.

  "That is a weakness," Luke said and Shum stared at the human, trying to understand why he was now angry at this primitive.

  "The Tal are superior fighters in every way except numbers," Shum said. "It has always been that way and we do not need numbers to win."

  "How would you fight if you were not technologically superior?" Luke asked and Shum just stared at Luke trying not to feel the emotion that was starting to color his vision.

  Shum had nothing to say as he stared at the human.

  "The Bronkaw never thought little people, like humans, would dare try to board their battle station and take them on in close combat," Luke said. "I kicked their ass. Between you, me and the hull, they didn't stand a chance."

  Shum's eyes narrowed as he stared at Luke.

  "Do you think you could defeat the Tal?" Shum asked. The question might get him killed but as a Tal he had to know.

  "There is no doubt in my mind," Luke said locking Shum in place with his gaze. "No doubt. I know your weakness. I might lose some battles, but I would win the war, of that I am sure."

  "Why?" Shum asked. Luke's certainty was unnerving. Had all the Tal foes felt that way?

  "Because the Tal always fight the same way," Luke said. "They use their numbers and technology to meet and destroy the enemy. You are proud of your history, you use it as an example to frighten others, but it doesn't change."

  "How would you defeat the Conglomerate and the Tal?" Shum finally asked.

  "The Tal would be my first target," Luke said. "I would attack them first, not the Conglomerate, just the Tal. I would strike them when they were not ready, unaware of the danger. With the Tal crippled or destroyed the rest of the Conglomerate would fall apart. The survivors would fear the force that defeated the mighty Tal."

  "That is not possible," Shum said, but as soon as he said it he knew how wrong he was.

  Luke's smile was ice cold.

  "It is very possible," Luke said. "Where there is a will, there is a way, and the Tal advertise their weakness to anyone who is paying attention. The Tal are good at attacking, they do not defend."

  Luke turned and resumed his walk to his quarters as Falla Shum stood there staring at Luke.

  How could the Topa allow these dangerous creatures to live? Luke was correct. Nobody had ever attacked the Tal. It just wasn't possible. Was it? It was insane, but as he thought about it, Shum knew it could be done if the attacker was dedicated and patient enough. Did Luke know how dangerous it was to let him live? What if he went to the Topa with this information?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  To Stattdennen

  The crawl across Nana to the Stattdennen wormhole location was slow, with passive sensors focused on all the wormholes. In space, with the distances involved, nothing ever seemed to happen fast.

  "What do you have? And carry on," Luke said as he entered the CIC, Shum behind him. People hadn't had time to come to attention which had been Luke's goal. All the damage to the CIC had been repaired and even the shattered droid had been replaced.

  "We have something sitting near the wormhole trying to be sneaky," Bruce said staring at the holographic display. Luke looked at the blinking yellow dot next to the wormhole icon. "Just an opinion, but I don't think it is friendly."

  "How did you find it?" Luke asked.

  "Inconsistent occlusion," Bruce said. "It has active camouflage, but it isn't perfect. We saw the warping of the stars behind it. Can't make out what it is or how big, but it is small. Might be a scout or courier, probably around eighty gravons. It is superb at masking its radiation."

  Luke stared at it, trying to figure out the best solution. If it wasn't a hostile, and they blew it up, then the Topa might come down on him. If it was hostile, and they did nothing about it, the enemy would be warned.

  "No way we could land an assault team on it?" Luke asked.

  Bruce looked at the screen and thought.

  "Not easily," Bruce said. "We haven't seen it long, but it has changed course. We were lucky to have seen it. If they are paying attention, they might see us too because we are a lot bigger. If we were to slow down we might figure out a pattern and be able to cripple it, but how long do you want to wait?"

  "I don't," Luke said. "Time is against us."

  "We can go to full sensors and will not find it quick. Then we could launch a boarding team, if we could cripple it," Bruce said.

  "And we would reveal ourselves to anybody else in the system," Luke said.

  Bruce nodded. "We should kill it to be safe. If people will not play nice in dark systems, they need to learn how dangerous they are. Teach them not to screw around with humans at any rate."

  "Kill it," Luke said, making his decision.

  "What if it is not hostile?" Shum asked. "You have not asked them to accept hostilities."

  Luke and Bruce both looked at Falla Shum.

  "This is a dark system," Luke said making up his mind. "This area is outside Topa law. We were attacked by three hostile ships upon entering this system and we have no reason to believe that vessel is friendly. It presents a danger to this ship and it will be destroyed."

  "Aye aye," Bruce said and turned to Erica. "Let's equip a pair of Supak missiles with a stealth coat."

  "Let me know when it is done or if anything changes," Luke said. He was due to be in the dojo in fifteen minutes and it would take a few hours to prepare and launch the strike. Bruce knew what he was doing and didn't need Luke breathing down his neck.

  "Aye, aye Commander," Bruce said.

  Luke turned to leave and his ever-present shadow, Falla Shum, followed him out.

  * * * * *

  "Do you think that small vessel is a threat?" Falla Shum asked as they walked down the corridor.

  "Without a doubt," Luke said.

  "It is smaller and is unlikely to have weaponry that can hurt this vessel, even though we are damaged the threat is small," Falla Shum said.

  "You are mostly correct," Luke said. "If that ship beats us into the Stattdennen system then it can warn any ships that are there. Any hostile ships there might go into stealth mode and ambush us, or they can just attack us. We can't afford a fight right now."

  "The Tal would not try to be stealthy," Falla Shum said. "There is nothing we fear. We would want that little ship to flee, to warn the others so they could flee or fight."

  "How many would you be willing to lose to ambush?" Luke asked.

  "We might lose some, but we would annihilate the ambushers," Shum said after a pause. Luke did not need to know all the capabilities of the Tal. "We would accept that risk and strike with extreme violence. It would inspire the most fear and confusion among the enemy as they realized they could not stop us."

  "How man Tal are there?" Luke asked.

  "I cannot discuss that," Shum said. "It is a Pral and Topa concern."

  "If those you were fighting were willing to kill a f
ew Tal for every thousand they lost, how long would the battle go on?" Luke asked.

  "Nobody would suffer those horrendous causalities to kill a few Tal at a time," Shum said.

  "Humans would," Luke said. "We have done it in our past wars. I would bet that humans are not the only ones. While I don't know if humans have enough people to use in such a manner against the Tal, do not think for one moment that other races would not be willing to do so. I would wager that the Tal cannot suffer large numbers of casualties. Even if they did, again, that would cause the Conglomerate to shatter because there would not be enough Tal to enforce the Topa's dictates."

  Falla Shum was silent, digesting this.

  "Why are you telling me this?" Falla Shum asked. "Don't you fear I will tell the Topa of your plans?"

  Luke laughed and stopped to turn and look at Shum.

  "We are on the same side," Luke said. "We both work for the Topa, we both work to keep the peace and save lives. I have no plans to topple the Topa, or to fight them."

  Falla Shum stared at Luke, wondering how true that was, what did the Topa know about this?

  * * * * *

  "If you don't have a good base, then your attacks and defenses will be weak," Luke was telling Leonessa, Brita, and Pavlis. Here in the dojo his mind was focused, consistent. There was structure here, simplicity. This was the dojo, there was nothing else.

  "Therefore, a good stance when doing a kata is so important," Luke said. He had heard Musashi say it millions of times. "You build that base. The kata is nothing more than muscle memory, something you do thousands of times so that your body knows your moves, even when your mind does not. Always strive to keep the body level, without going up and down because when you go up or down you are broadcasting your move to the enemy."

  Falla Shum sat against the wall with his eyes closed while Musashi sat in the back watching everything.

  "The enemy scout has been destroyed," Bruce's voice came over the ship's net. "We are proceeding to the wormhole under stealth, estimated time of arrival is five hours. Estimated transition in wormhole is twenty-two hours. That is all."

  Luke nodded, wondering who had been killed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Assassination Attempt

  Mark stared at Felix. Nobody had identified it or determine its intelligence. If Mark was being honest, it was a perfect pet. Felix could be affectionate and seemed to sense his moods, and when he wasn't wanted Felix stayed away, sleeping in his corner. Mark wondered how it had learned to use the toilet, but it did and the only interaction it required from Mark was food, water and the occasional head scratch. Those scars though made Mark cautious though. Felix was a fighter, a predator, but he didn't act like it and Mark didn't feel in the least threatened by Felix. What did it take arouse the creature's fury and make it fight?

  "The ambassador is here," Aide announced and Mark withheld the curse as he gave permission for Aide to allow him in.

  "Are you crazy?!" Ambassador Sutton said as he stormed into Mark's office.

  Mark leaned back and looked at the Ambassador over steepled fingers, raising an eyebrow. The ambassador stopped short as he stared at Mark, who was not rising to shake his hand or offer him a seat.

  "I have already notified the Secretary General of your opposition," the Ambassador said. Mark was allowing communication back and forth to Sol, but there wasn't much. "By your own admission, if the Caliphate attacks the Conglomerate the human race could be wiped out in retaliation. Do you want to see humanity destroyed?"

  "That is unlikely to happen," Mark said hoping that was a true statement.

  "Is this room secure?" the Ambassador asked. "I have information to share with you and it could take a few hours."

  "The room is secure, and I have cleared my schedule," Mark said. The Ambassador had claimed it would take a few hours to share and discuss the confidential data. Mark was intrigued though.

  "All you have to do is allow the Jupiter Alliance fleet to transit that wormhole," the Ambassador said. "That is all! Why is that so difficult? That fleet is a sitting duck on the other side. They are running low on supplies and the crews need to see something other than the insides of their ships."

  "I want the truth," Mark said as the Ambassador placed his bug detecting device on the table.

  Now Mark knew what it was. It was called an 'interrogator' and while some provided jamming, they were used to monitor a subject and provide detailed physiological information. Some people said they could almost read minds because they recorded and analyzed the subtlest hints of body language. Marks eyes narrowed when they saw the device and then he looked at the Ambassador who linked to it through his InnerBuddy.

  "That is not a simple signal jammer," Mark said, his anger returning to him.

  Out of the corner of his eyes Mark saw Felix look up and lock his eyes on the Ambassador. The alien's body tensed as it gathered its feet underneath it and that caught Mark by surprise first. The creature was moving like a predator.

  Out of corner of Mark's eyes he saw the ambassador's pistol come up. There was no flash or sound but Mark felt his neck sting. Mark's hand never even came up to grasp his neck because his body refused to obey him. It was like a mild electric shocked flowing through his body, paralyzing him. His hands fell into his lap and his head fell onto his chest. Not even his eyes could move and Mark wondered if this is what it was like to die. He could still feel his lungs pull in and exhale air, his heart continued to beat and he could hear as he stared at his belly and lap. The Ambassador had a lot of nerve but then in retrospect the plan was perfect.

  A roar and a scream came to his ears, and he wished he could look up, but aside from his beating heart and breathing, there was nothing he could do. How could he have been so stupid?

  The screaming increased in tempo and Mark saw red droplets land in his field of view. What was happening? Was the 'Ambassador' killing Felix? That angered Mark more than anything, the alien was innocent.

  Mark heard the door slide open and Aide yelled, "Don't move!"

  Mark couldn't even smile, but if Aide was here, alarms would be ringing. Trust Aide to come to the rescue, although Mark did not understand what would have tipped off his Aide so quickly. Hopefully Aide could save Felix as well.

  He could still hear Felix growling so the creature was not yet dead. There was more movement but Mark couldn't guess what it was. A struggle, but was it Felix thrashing about in death? A ringing in his ears made it difficult to understand the sounds. Whatever the Ambassador had shot him with was impacting his other senses.

  Aide appeared at his side and lifted his head to look at the dart in his neck and Mark saw Felix on top of the Ambassador. Felix had the ambassador's gun hand in his jaws and one of Felix's clawed hands was holding the Ambassador's throat while the other clawed hand was grasping the Ambassador's other hand. Felix was covered in blood but it looked like all the blood belonged to the Ambassador.

  Ambassador Sutton whimpered as he stared up at Felix. There was a lot of blood dripping from Felix's mouth and any movement by the ambassador was met by some shaking of the hand in Felix's mouth. Mark could only smile inside despite the realization of how dangerous Felix was.

  "Medical and additional security teams are on the way Prime Minister," Aide said plucking out the dart and looking at it. Aide looked at the Prime Minister's eyes.

  "It will be okay Prime Minister," Aide said as a pair of security officers moved around Felix to grab the ambassador's arms. Once the officers had the Ambassador, Felix let go, giving the ambassador a low threatening growl. The ambassador's eyes never left Felix's as the security officers shackled him and placed a bandage on his wounds. The Ambassador was silent, his eyes locked on Felix like he was looking at The Angel of Death coming for his soul. A security officer placed a faraday cage bag over the Ambassador's head and Ralph went limp like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

  "I believe it is a simple paralysis dart," Aide said after medical team arrived, scanned him and
loaded him onto a stretcher. "You should recover shortly. We will find an antidote."

  As the medics turned him over Mark saw Felix come up and stand beside him, looking at him with knowing eyes that were too intelligent for a simple pet, but Mark found that more calming than disturbing as he was rolled over to face the ceiling.

  * * * * *

  "It was a simple paralysis dart," Aide said. Two security droids stood nearby in armor with carbines at the ready.

  "In the ambassador's possession were several items. We believe once you were sedated he would inject you with a nanite cocktail. It would then give him some control over your motor functions and give him the ability to inflict pain or pleasure. It also looked like he was trying to gain access to your cybernetics but what he had would not have worked against Conglomerate systems. He had no clue, although it was some very advanced stuff. Admiral Wise says is a lot more advanced than he thought the Jupiter Alliance should have."

  "Thank you," Mark said, his tongue still felt stiff and uncooperative.

  "Don't thank me," Aide said. "Felix is the one to thank. En route to attack the ambassador he triggered the door, making it open and allowing me to hear and see what was happening at that point. It could only have been intentional."

  Mark looked at Felix, curled up again in a corner. For Felix to have moved past the door and still get to Sutton meant the creature was blazingly fast.

  "I didn't know he could be that violent," Mark said. Felix looked up, blinked at Mark and then put his head back down, closing his eyes.

  "Do you think it is safe to keep in your presence?" Aide asked. "It has just demonstrated how fast and dangerous it is."

  Mark stared at Felix. The creature was not a danger to him he was sure.

  "I trust it," Mark said.

  "Is that logical?" Aide asked.

  "No," Mark said. "But it is my choice. He came to my defense."

  Aide nodded.

  "The ambassador, his staff and all Jupiter Alliance personnel are in custody," Aide said looking back at Mark. "Admiral Day thought it would be best and we don't know how far this went. We have removed two suicide devices from the Ambassador and disabled his cybernetics. He is sedated, in solitary confinement and under heavy guard."