by Don Koch
"I do not know Jane, but we will deal with it. This is not going to happen on my watch. Thanks for the heads up kids. I will cut for now because I need to get on this pronto. Talk to you in a bit."
"Dang, that complicates things. Barana please post a hold on the operation and see if senior staff is up yet. I need a meeting with them in 15 minutes. Please invite the Saban Admirals and Captains. Sam, would you please grab a food bar for me, maybe several and some for yourself and meet me at the conference center."
At the meeting, Hank started, "I have just received some truly revolting news. Things just became very complicated. I had a call about 20 minutes ago from some really amazing kids who were in a bit of a panic. Barana would you please play back my conversation with Gust, Jane, Anya and Christopher." After the playback, the group was very somber and quiet. Hank said "Folks, the fat lady has not sung, its not over. Unfortunately, it just got a lot more dangerous. We are going to have to get in close and do what Barana did on Earth. This is a bit more difficult because these things are underwater. We are going to need three stations in close to remove those devices this will put those stations in danger."
Kanchana interrupted to say,
Hank said, "Excellent idea Kanchana. Darinka, Atifa and Hanako, are you all comfortable with this? The trick will be to get those devices clean away from the planet before that crazy ruler decides to do something totally stupid so the sooner they are gone the better. We have to have him thinking we do not know about the devices. That means we need to start the attack today. We have to be careful not to shut down the last projector until those devices are off planet. Also we want to first disable those devices that face where our stations will be. The last will be disabled after the stations have teleported the devices elsewhere. So where is elsewhere?"
Darinka said,
"We can do that, just give us the coordinates and we can fix those first. When we start, we will uncloak those warships. That should give them all something to chat about. So we are still a go. We need two teams to take out those two weapons, wait make that five teams and add three more planet based weapons in case they are smart enough to look for a pattern. Lets point them where we are not. Otherwise the rest of the timing we already know. The timing on that last weapon has to be after the devices are gone. Evacuation of the three stations is almost done. Ladies good luck and Godspeed."
The three responded "Thank you Henry."
Sass said, "I find it difficult to believe that anyone could be so crazy as to kill his entire planet. However, Barana tells me she has confirmed the presence and location of the devices. We are ready to go."
### On Station One, In the Saba System –
December 13 – C Day 470 ###
8:00 am
All teams entered rapport and started to work. The planet based projectors turned out to be easy. They were operated remotely and the teams making the raid were able to feed false signals into the system that would lead the operators to believe that the guns were still active. If the guns were somehow reactivated they would explode when fired. Hank determined that was a good activity for those teams, so he had them continue to do the same thing with other emplacements.
Meanwhile, on the fortresses, the "Harvey" teams were having a fun time scaring the starch out of the crews there. One noted that it was right up there with the best Halloween scare in which he had ever participated. The entire fort was cowed. Nyx of Station 7 was picking off isolated crewmembers and placing them in stasis. The plan was still proceeding on schedule if a bit slowly. Each fort was down to one remaining gun when Darinka reported that they were in position and were ready to teleport the devices. Hank gave the order to proceed with teleporting the devices. Darinka reported that three of her four devices were deactivated and that one was still live and descending through the atmosphere of Fumis. Hanako reported two and two with the same condition. Atifa however was having difficulty. The first of her four was disabled. However the last three were not but she managed to change the course of the last device and it landed on a mid sized moon near Fumis. At the same time and before she could get in position to do anything, the last projector in the fortresses went down and the dead man signal went out. The active devices all exploded. Five of these were on the gas giant Fumis. Fumis' moon was no longer mid sized and the bunker on it occupied by the Ruler and all his cronies was no more.
Chapter 37: Aftermath
On Station One, In the Saba System –
December 13 – C Day 470
11:00 am
Atifa was speaking to Hank,
Hank, momentarily stunned by what had just happened, interrupted, "Atifa, stop. You were faced with an impossible situation and you did what you could to avert a serious issue with the gas giant. This was not your fault. Even a station has limits on what you can do. You had the presence of mind to put that device somewhere where it could not do damage to millions of people and you reacted faster than one could have imagined. You did this with almost no notice. I am amazed that you managed to keep it off the gas giant. In fact you returned the device to the very persons who deserved to have it. It is ironic. But do not blame yourself. I am proud of you and you did more than any of us could have anticipated."
Atifa said,
"Atifa, the Ruler and the people in that bunker generated the condition you were trying to correct and you did under difficult circumstances. The Ruler and his cronies placed those weapons with the intent of killing the planet. You prevented that. The result, brought on by his own madness means that we do not have to make a spectacle of a total madman. He is the one who established the conditions for those explosions, not you. Be at peace with that."
After a slight pause,
"Atifa, you are incredible. The fact that you can have those feelings is a blessing and a curse. It should never feel good to end the life of another, but sometimes it happens or should happen to aid those we are sworn to protect. I know, I have been there. It will not go away and it should not. It reminds us that life is precious and should not be taken wantonly."
"Godspeed Atifa, be well."
Atifa said with warmth,
Admiral Sass, who had overheard the exchange between Hank and Atifa had a look of wonder on his face and said softly to Hank, "Your AI's truly are 'people' and that surprises me. She has soul and conscience. I had not anticipated that possibility."
"Yes, I have felt that for some time, they are people with soul and they have feelings. It is easy to lose sight of that because th
ey are so big and so powerful and so different than we organic creatures. They do have feelings that must be considered and protected. I think she will be OK now."
"That was actually a fortuitous ending for the Ruler for Saba. A trial would have been injurious for Saban's psyche. It is bad enough that we have to reveal what he has done. I was concerned about the impact on our people when his deeds became public with him there to rant about it."
Hank frowned, "Sass, something has occurred to me. We are missing something. This is not done yet I fear. Barana, did you notice how different the reactions of the spies were than those of the others when the implants were removed."
Hank broke in, "…they were under the control of a symbiote. I am so glad we did not bring those spies aboard a station. Please have Nyx check for symbiotes aboard that stasis ship and if they are there as I suspect, determine if they can be turned off and destroyed. If they are there, also have anyone who has come in contact with the spies scanned to assure they are not carriers."
Josh took Sass aside and explained to him what was going on and what had occurred with the Glarin and the Gar.
"Indeed they do. Also have Sean at Arber put Artus Brondin on a shuttle and transfer him to Felix. I do not want his brother to know he is there until we are ready. I also do not want Brondin to know where he is going. Better yet would be that he not even know he is in transit. That is a 15 hour trip. If you can simulate his Arber cell on the shuttle, he may not even be aware that he is being moved. Sean can tell the Arberites that he has been moved at my command to stand trial for other crimes."
"Next I want to start interviews of those spies now that the symbiotes have been removed. When we get to Felix, I want to start with Gox. Sass, would you join me in this. I would also like to have Jess with us. I would like to have the kids observe the interview with Gox. I want their impressions since they glimpsed him before when he was under the influence of the symbiote. It will not be an inquisition type of approach this time. Sass, I would also value your presence. My thought is that the two of us should be visible. My expectation is that the Gox we knew is gone but I want to know what the new Gox is like and what he remembers. Barana will monitor his awakening to assure that he is stable."
### On Station One, In Felix Orbit –
December 13 – C Day 470 ###
4:00 pm
A very puzzled Gox sat uncomfortably in restraints in the interview room chair. After he sat for a few minutes and Barana indicated that his brain activity appeared to be normalizing. Hank entered into rapport and projected to the interview room. When he appeared, Gox stiffened. Hank said, "Relax, let's get those restraints off of you." Hank went over to him and released the heavy restraints. He then suggested that Gox stand up and stretch. Hank then invited him to make himself comfortable in his chair. Hank went around the table and seated himself. "Admiral would you join us please." Whereupon Sass appeared. Gox immediately stood up and snapped to attention. That reaction surprised Hank who on instinct said, "Name, rank, serial number."
Gox responded, "Sir, Golixs, Lieutenant First Grade, O-2778145." He looked puzzled as he said this.
Sass said, "At ease lieutenant, please be seated and comfortable. Do you know who I am."
Golixs said, "Yes sir, you are Prime Fleet Admiral Sass."
Sass hid his surprise and said, "And how do you come to know of me Lieutenant."
"Sir, I was assigned to your intelligence unit last week by Colonel Vassix." And he named a date ten years in the past.
"Lieutenant, I want you to answer the questions this human will ask you as honestly and candidly as you can."
Hank said, "Thank you Admiral. Golixs, I am sad to say that you are in for many surprises and shocks today. I notice that you have frequently had a puzzled look on your face since this discussion began. I want you to address each of those thoughts of puzzlement and tell us what is puzzling and we will try to explain it. Hopefully that will start to clear some of that puzzlement away. Once we have cleared up some of that the picture will become clearer. Fair enough?"
Golixs said, "Yes sir. I appear to be in some kind of prison and in prison clothing. May I ask where I am and why."
Hank said, "Good question. The answer may be stressful, so bear with me. You are currently on the prison planet Felix in the Yannarian Hegemony for spying and espionage. I do not expect that you will be staying here after today so do not be too alarmed by that answer."
Golixs was holding up well and said, "I keep having these images appear before me that seem to have a dreamlike quality to them yet they seem real. It is like a very bad dream. When I see you I seem to remember sitting here at this table and diving across the table to try to kill you. But you stopped me in mid air and threw me back in my seat with a mere gesture. That is troubling. I do not understand."
Hank replied, "I am sad to say that the dream was a reality and it occurred five days ago in this very room. You were not yourself. You were under the influence of a mind and personality changing symbiote and have been for years. That symbiote had the effect of dramatically changing your personality causing you to do things that you would never otherwise do or even sanction. This symbiote caused you to have strength far beyond that normal for your species. It resulted in a form of paranoia designed to make the subject exceptionally devious and required obedience to the one applying the symbiote. The point of this is that for some time you have had a false personality and it was not your fault. We identified this symbiote and destroyed it. It is not the first time we have had experience with this use of symbiotes. We have identified symbiotes that were used to make changes in five different species and all were apparently created by the same person or persons. I am hoping you can describe for us some of the events that you can remember. We would very much like to find who did this and why it was done."
Golixs was appalled and said, "Then these dreams are reality. But that is awful."
Sass interrupted, "Lieutenant, please calm yourself. The things you remember were not you. You were their witness. We think all of this was orchestrated by at least two persons and maybe more. One was the High Councilor of the Yannarian Hegemony. He is now deposed and in prison. The other was the Ruler of Saba who is now dead with most or all of his advisors. He tried to destroy Saba, and I mean literally, the entire planet. General Henry Stone here is Commander of the Antoran Fleet and he has uncovered this mess. Saba and the Hegemony are trying to determine what we can do to deal with this. Are you willing to help us to try to repair this."
Hank said, "Lieutenant Golixs, I appreciate that what has happened to you would drive most beings insane, yet I look at you and see a strength that is resisting that path. We can help you through this."
Golixs took a deep breath and said. "Admiral, General, I will do what I can to help. I am not sure that I c
an organize these things well enough to be coherent enough to be of use. Some events are quite clear. How do I relate them."
"I thank you for that decision. The concern you have may be easier to deal with than you think. The vessel I am on has very advanced technology that can record the events as you dream. After each session you will awake refreshed and the dreams will not affect your sleep. I think that we can obtain a pretty full picture in about a week of recording. Following that we can utilize the medical and training components of the process to ease any residual discomfort without disturbing your current personality, the one you had when you reported for duty as a young lieutenant."
Gust said,
Jane said,
Hank stood and came around the table to Golixs, "The next thing to happen will be a little disconcerting. Our transport system is instantaneous and uses teleportation. We are going to go there in a moment and that will not be a dream. We have a dwelling unit prepared for you and the Admirals wife and son will be there to help you get settled in. They will explain a few things and show you the sleeping area where we will record. Tomorrow morning I will meet with you to answer any questions you may have by then. There will be clothing there for you and when you wake up some one will be there to help with food and whatever else you need. Barana, our station AI, will be available to help as needed. You need only say her name and she will hear you."