The Betrayal of Ka (The Transprophetics Book 1)

by Shea Oliver

  Ka looked down at his arm again. There were no scars. He was back on Schmarlo’s Landing. He walked to the edge of the landing and stood looking out at Stujorkian City. Everything seemed so quiet, so peaceful.

  “What are you doing, Ka?”

  He turned to see Alorus standing nearby. The boy’s face looked a little different. He didn’t look like he was as hateful. There wasn’t any foam or blood around his mouth. He looked exactly like he did when he’d bought the rath from Ka. A tear began to form in Ka’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, Alorus. I wish I could undo everything I did.”

  “I know, but what are you doing here?” asked Alorus.

  “I’m just looking at the city. It’s peaceful here,” replied Ka.

  “You’re not in prison anymore. Where are we?”

  Kadamba looked at the boy closer. He knew he wasn’t real, but in so many ways he was. He was part of Ka’s life. “We’re on Zoranth now. I’m joining the Donovackia Corporation’s military.”

  “Is that fair? Should you be out of prison?” asked the boy.

  Tears began to run down Kadamba’s face. He looked out at the city again, trying to find the building that was home. He couldn’t see it anywhere.

  “I don’t know. But I don’t think I will ever see Stujorkian City or home ever again.”

  Hearing a video monitor turn on, he opened his eyes to see the lieutenant watching some news program. He was shaking his head back and forth as a woman on the screen, standing at a podium, was making what seemed to be an important speech.

  “My dear citizens of Koranth and Zoranth, today the Ministry of Interplanetary Corporate Relations is happy to announce a complete ceasefire in the war between Iguran and Paknorta. This war has been waged for too long, and too many lives have been lost. Through diligent and painstaking negotiations, we have dissolved the governments of the two nations, and created a new, more peaceful, single country.”

  Kadamba looked at the Lieutenant. He appeared to have a very pensive look on his face. He turned back towards Kadamba, noting, “Everything is changing so quickly, and I’m not always sure it is for the best.”

  “Wasn’t that Celestina Wiroviana, the Chief Executive Minister?” asked Kadamba.

  “Being in prison, I guess you aren’t too up on current affairs. The ministry has effectively taken over five countries,” explained the Lieutenant. “The Ministry’s military is now the sixth largest military on the two planets. Some people think it is a good thing. She preaches peace. She’s stopped multiple wars, but recently, she’s done it using her new military might. I don’t know that much about politics, but I guess I should be happy. The Donovackia military is the largest and strongest military ever.”

  They chatted for a few more minutes, until the shuttle began descending for the Donovackia Second Brigade Initial Military Training Facility. Kadamba moved to window, and the Lieutenant pointed out various buildings, training areas, and places in the huge training complex. The facility was the only thing Kadamba could see. It was completely isolated from any cities or towns. Kadamba was happy to be out of prison, to be given this chance, but there was a little piece of him that had hoped to see an option—maybe someplace he could run, if he had too. There was nothing anywhere near the massive facility. Kadamba just hoped life would be a little less painful here.

  He was quickly processed, assigned to a unit, and in many ways a new life began. It was difficult, but he wasn’t being brutalized. Because of the scar and the stigma attached to it, he was ostracized by the other cadets. It didn’t matter that much, as no one was trying to beat him or pimp him out. He often thought that he was being singled out for additional work, assignments, or more difficult tasks, but it was okay. He would do anything needed not to have to return to that prison.

  In many ways, he started to become a soldier. He could use multiple weapons, and he loved the hand-to-hand combat. The physical training was excruciating, but rewarding. He was in the best shape of his life.

  He often thought about heading to the communications depot to call his parents, but he never did. At times, he would convince himself that it was best to let them think he was dead. Perhaps they made up some story about him wandering off into the world, or perhaps dying in an accident. When he thought of how terribly disappointed they must be in him, it was easy to just let them believe he was gone forever.

  Chapter 20

  Mission Clarity

  Commander Conall Bornani sat outside Tomar Donovackia’s office, waiting for the Chairman of the most powerful Corporation in the two worlds to call him into the office. It was uncomfortable. Commander Conall Bornani was a soldier, through and through. He was about to be promoted to the rank of Captain when an opportunity arose to take command of the next planetary exploration mission to a planet known as Earth. He leapt at the opportunity. He had been orphaned at a young age and had recently lost his wife. He had little left but his military career.

  Tomar’s office was too plush and palatial for Commander Bornani, but he forced himself to appear comfortable while meeting the most powerful man on the two worlds. Tomar was gracious, offering the Commander a seat in an area overlooking Stujorkian City. “Commander, I appreciate your taking the time to come and see me. I have a number of things that I want to discuss.”

  “Of course, sir. This is an exciting and important mission, and I am honored to be a part of it,” answered Commander Bornani, trying to sound humble.

  “Please give me an assessment of your crew,” Tomar requested. “This is likely a one-way mission, and I need you to be sure you can accomplish the goals of quickly and thoroughly assessing the planet’s readiness for invasion and development. Of equal, and perhaps even greater importance, is discovering if any Transprophetics have appeared in the population.”

  Commander Conall Bornani gave Tomar a thorough assessment of the five other soldiers, the two infrastructure and technology analysts, the two global logistics and trade analysts, and the two experts who would be working to discover if the planet had any Transprophetics. With just over a year left to prepare, the Commander was very confident that his crew would be one hundred percent ready for the mission.

  Tomar had, of course, been involved in the selection of the six experts on this mission, but he had been less involved in selecting the soldiers. That was General Chaldea’s job. He had faith that his military would provide the best possible warriors for the job. This was the first planetary exploration mission to launch since he had taken over. While he was extremely busy with growing the Corporation, he absolutely wanted to make sure that this mission was successful. “Do you understand, Commander, exactly how the experts will proceed to root out Transprophetics?”

  “They will be dispatched into the planet’s population to try to find anyone who claims to have the powers to move objects, the ability to move through space without being seen, or any of the known capabilities of Transprophetics,” explained Commander Bornani. “They will scour whatever news and research resources that they can discover. If they find a potential candidate, they will interview the candidate to ascertain whether or not the person is, in actuality, a Transprophetic, or simply a charlatan playing on the gullibility of others.”

  “And what happens if they discover a true Transprophetic?” Tomar knew the answer, but he wanted to see how the Commander would approach and handle his response.

  “They will kill them.”

  “Yes,” Tomar replied, satisfied that the Commander understood. “And if we are unable to validate that any Transprophetic exists on Earth, then what?”

  “The remaining four experts in infrastructure, technology, logistics, and trade will make an assessment of whether the planet is primed for development. That assessment will be sent back, along with various planetary artifacts, via the return vessel,” responded the Commander.

  “Very good. Are you prepared to send back a report that states a planet is not ready, knowing full well that you and your crew will likely spend the rest of your lives on tha
t planet?” Tomar inquired.

  “I and each of my crew members are absolutely prepared for that option.”

  “Do you understand what you and your crew will be tasked with, at that point?”

  “Yes, sir. We will fan out across the planet, continually looking for Transprophetics. If we find any, we kill them. If we are extremely lucky, we might someday run into a future crew from Donovackia. If, as the years have passed, we have found a Transprophetic, then we inform the future crew.”

  Tomar and the Commander continued to talk for some time. Tomar was comfortable that this was the man for this mission. He had a clear grasp of what needed to happen on Earth. While Tomar absolutely wanted to hear that Earth was ready for development, he would rather that the mission find the planet needing a bit more time. Tomar could wait. He had absolute control of his Corporation, and many plans that would take him even further than he had already come.

  The Commander left Tomar’s office and returned to the former Stameyerson Corporation’s launch facility. Of course, now it was the Donovackia Corporation’s launch facility. What was once Eleven Corporations was now Nine, and there were rumors that another Corporation was being targeted for acquisition by Donovackia. It really didn’t matter to Commander Conall Bornani. He would only be here for one more year, and then his fate was on Earth.

  *****

  Tomar began to prepare for the last meeting that he had that day. Spending any time with Scharbigot Canchorus, one of the now-three Ministers, was more of an annoyance than anything else. Celestina was firmly in control of the Ministry. Her uncle’s health had further deteriorated, and his vote was absolutely hers. Scharbigot had simply become a figurehead. He still performed Ministry duties, but Celestina ran the show.

  The communication device on his wrist vibrated. It was Celestina. She had tears in her eyes, but also seemed to be smiling at the same time. He swiped his finger across the device, and a live holographic image of her appeared in front of him.

  “Celestina, what is the matter?” asked Tomar.

  “My uncle is dead. He passed away a few minutes ago.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear that. He was an amazing man and was so wonderful to you. And I suppose congratulations are also in order. His seat in the Ministry has now passed to you. ”

  Celestina smiled, answering, “Yes. It is true. I now have complete control of two of the three votes in the Ministry. I’ve already passed my first new rule since my uncle passed. I’ve granted Scharbigot a lifetime seat on the Ministry’s board. In return, when he passes away, the seat becomes mine.”

  Tomar began to laugh. “You are such an evil genius.”

  “I know,” she replied, her smile growing.

  “Have you contacted Scharbigot to tell him the news?” asked Tomar.

  “Not of yet. I believe you are meeting with him in a few hours, so perhaps you could share his good fortune and lifetime appointment with him?”

  Tomar laughed. “I’d be more than happy to let him know that for the rest of his life, he is a Minister.”

  Chapter 21

  Set Up to Fail

  Donovackia Board Member Ionia Villegas sat comfortably in the chair in General Swinton Chaldea’s office with a wide, gracious smile on her face. “My dear General, you are a man of my own heart,” she began. The General focused all of his energy on not leaping across his desk and strangling the overbearing, liberal woman with his bare hands. “I am here to personally thank you for working with me on my pilot projects to help troubled youths find direction in the wonderful military organization of our Corporation.”

  “Of course, ma’am,” the General managed through partially clinched teeth. He was working as hard as he could to sound friendly and not let Ionia Villegas know how he really felt about her. He hated her. He hated all her social and environmental causes. He wished she were dead.

  “In particular, I wanted to thank you for accepting Kadamba Vorhoor into the program. It means so much to me that I could honor my murdered nephew, by helping a young man that he believed deserved a second chance.”

  The General’s face continued to show calm, but at the mention of that person, he could feel his blood pressure rising. He would just have to keep cool, at least, until after she left. “Of course, ma’am, I’ve heard your nephew was a true humanitarian. His death was a tragedy. May the Lords of the Fourth System have mercy on his soul.”

  “Thank you, General. He was a good man. Kudos to you for continuing and building upon what very well may become his legacy. I will be presenting these pilot programs to the board of directors of the Donovackia Corporation in the coming year. All twenty of the youths that we placed in various training camps have successfully completed and passed their initial military training. It’s very exciting, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Of course, ma’am,” affirmed the General, hoping his face wasn’t turning red.

  “Once each of them has completed the next round of training and has been placed in active roles in the military, we shall declare this pilot program a complete success!” declared Ionia Villegas.

  Standing, the General showed the Minster to the door. The entire time he’d held back a nearly overwhelming desire to pick her up and smash her into the ground. It would be so easy. She was old and just beginning to become slightly frail. He could crush the life out of her, and the whole universe would be better off.

  Sealing the door behind her, he strode over to his bookshelf. He opened the secret compartment and pulled out one of the bottles, unscrewing the top quickly and putting the bottle to his lips. The liquid had a slight burn as it went down, but it had only a slight taste. He sat down in his chair and pulled up Kadamba Vorhoor’s record. The little bastard had scored above average in his initial training. He took another long draw from the bottle.

  The record seemed fairly stark. There was nothing that really stood out one way or another. In some respects that was good. The General still intended to get rid of Kadamba, and that absolutely nothing was amiss in the records was positive. He sat back in his chair to finish the bottle.

  It was time for an ass-chewing. Someone needed to feel his fury. He slammed his hand into the desk, and his secretary’s voice came through. “Sir?”

  “Run your cute little butt down to Colonel Jecamiah Agastya’s office and bring his lazy, worthless ass back here, NOW!” commanded the General.

  The General smiled and laughed as he threw the bottle into the trash. He grabbed another from the secret compartment and took a long drink. He was going to enjoy this.

  As usual, the Colonel made the General’s secretary sit down and get a drink before heading back to the General’s office. This time, he told her that when she caught her breath, that she was dismissed for the day. She should go home. He would tell the General that he had sent her to train a new secretary and that she wouldn’t be returning until tomorrow.

  Colonel Agastya took his time walking to the General’s offices. From the look in the General’s secretary’s eyes, the Colonel could tell that the General was very likely to be in a monstrously foul mood. “Let him stew a little and get himself really worked up,” thought the grinning Colonel as he walked to the General’s office.

  “Are you the MOST incompetent second-in-command this military has ever had to suffer through?” yelled the General as Colonel Agastya walked into his office. “I ordered you to get that drug-dealing, child-murdering son of a bitch out of my military during his initial training! You failed!”

  “Sir, with respect, your orders were followed, as were mine,” replied the Colonel. “It was kept completely under the radar, and no one could suspect that we sabotaged his training. He had the hardest tasks, the dirtiest assignments, the worst opportunities. The kid made it through the training in spite of our very covert attempts to run him out. He passed.”

  The Colonel met the General’s icy gaze with stoic coldness in his own eyes. The General would never behave like this around others. It was only those who were close who got
to see the real person that he was. He was a bully. He was a true jerk of a human being. He liked to intimidate others with his rank, making them feel small. It made the General feel better to tear others down.

  “That wretched woman was here again today,” stated the General with disdain, “gloating over the success of these damn criminals she wants to save with my military. She wants to turn my military into her personal social cause. She’ll have us all overrun with gangsters, murders, and rapists, if the likes of you can’t do your damn job!”

  “Sir, I am very familiar with her program. It is very selective. Kadamba Vorhoor may be an unlikely candidate, but he passed initial military training, even with obstacles that should have stopped him,” Colonel Agastya responded.

  “If you can’t do your damn job, then I will!” The General sat back down at his desk and started thumping buttons, bringing up a screen with the testing results from Kadamba’s initial training. It was actually impressive that he had done as well as he did. The Colonel’s orders were clear. Make him miserable, and try to make him wash out. The cadet had been mostly ostracized by the other cadets and hadn’t even known that he had it harder than anyone else, but he still had passed.

  The General began changing the scores in Kadamba’s record.

  “What are you doing, sir?” asked the Colonel.

  “If this little fucker wants to be in the military, I’m going to show him what it is really like,” chuckled the General.

  The Colonel watched as the General upped all of Kadamba’s scores. He moved the cadet from above average to excellent. He flipped to the next screen, which held Kadamba’s post-initial training camp assignment. He changed it to Elite Forces Training.