Sacrifice:The Shenkar War

by Libby, Seth

  Then, as if an afterthought, he waved a hand about the bridge as he spoke. “And get someone up here to clean all this up.”

  Evan turned and looked at Liam. Liam just stood there, a hollow look on his face. Reaching out, he placed a hand upon his friend’s shoulder. Liam turned his head slowly and looked over at Evan.

  “Liam, you can’t let this get to you. You technically died and came back. Your mind was shattered from the trauma your body went through,” Evan said softly.

  Liam shook his head slightly before he spoke. “Evan, you don’t understand. I was fully aware of what I was doing . . . at least, for the most part. I was so full of hate and anger for what the Shenkar did to me and to the people I had come to think of friends and family. After the torture, sure, I was a little out of it, but I still could have stopped myself. The thing is, I didn’t want to. I wanted to tear them all apart, and as you can see, I did just that.” Liam waved a hand to indicate the room.

  “Oh, I don’t see a problem in what you did . . . it’s just a shame the Shenkar didn’t see the result of pissing off one Templar Knight,” came the deep voice of Admiral Kelvin from behind.

  He smiled when they both turned to face him before his face turned serious as he looked upon Liam. “Son, I said it before, and I will say it again. You are an excellent pilot and a fine young man. So you got creative in killing your captors . . . so what? Like I said, it was the last mistake they made by capturing you. Hell, if anything I feel more confident in you boys and girls. Just one of you was let loose on a Shenkar battlecruiser, and the result was several thousand dead Shenkar. I’m going to recommend a medal for you if we ever make it home.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Liam, sounding a little surprised.

  November 12, 2012, 5:05 p.m. ESTBattlecruiser Tryliene

  It took just over a half hour for the engineering crews to bring the systems online with the help of the Meshtrell. With the ship secured, several more shuttles arrived with personnel. As everyone worked to clean up the ship by disposing of the Shenkar remains, Liam, Evan, and the rest of Necro Squadron decided to investigate the lab in which Liam had been held.

  It didn’t take them long to locate the lab, and when they arrived, they found that none of the cleanup crews had made it this far. Evan looked down at the body of Scyren.

  “That’s him,” was all Liam said.

  Without saying anything, Evan nodded and then stepped through the door.

  “What are you doing here?” Liam heard Evan demand of someone.

  Looking past Evan, Liam spotted one of the Meshtrell on the opposite side of the room--Jaera, he thought--holding the handheld computer that once belonged to Scyren. Something wasn’t right, and Liam didn’t hesitate. Without thinking, his hand came up as he focused his mind upon the computer. Feeling the electrical field that surrounded it, he concentrated and directed the flow toward himself. The computer flew from the surprised Meshtrell’s hand across the room to land in Liam’s hand.

  No one spoke as Liam stood there, his hand outstretched before him. Evan’s mouth was slightly open in an expression of surprise as he looked from the Meshtrell to Liam and back again. Liam was just as surprised as anyone at what he had just done.

  “How did you do that?” asked Jaera in its melodious mechanical voice.

  “Yeah, how did you do that?” asked Tim from behind him.

  Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at Tim, his mouth working, but no sound came out. After several seconds, he finally found his voice.

  “I can’t really explain it. I saw that Jaera was holding Scyren’s personal computer, and for some reason, I didn’t want him to have it. All I did was think of it in my hand and suddenly it was there . . . well, no, not just that . . .” Liam trailed off as he seemed to think of something.

  “Liam?” asked Crystal.

  Turning, he looked at Crystal and then Evan before speaking again.

  “Well, it’s hard to explain, but ever since I was captured, when they injected that chemical into me, if I concentrate slightly, I see a sort of blue aura around whatever I am looking at. When I saw the computer, I saw the same thing, and when I thought of how I wanted it, well then I could see the blue glow extend out from my hand and merge with the computer’s. Then it was just a matter of retracting the blue back to me . . . understand?”

  It looked as if neither Crystal nor Evan did understand. Tim, on the other hand, seemed to be thinking it over, his hand holding his chin as his head cocked slightly sideways. However, before Tim could voice his opinion, it was Jaera who spoke.

  “You have somehow learned to control the energies that surround all things. That is also, I believe, why you can kill with electricity. You have learned to focus the electrical current that flows in your body and through your nanites. You intensify its strength and send it at any target you wish . . . very interesting. We must study this more when we have the time.”

  Liam looked annoyed at the prospect of being studied by the Meshtrell but said nothing. Then finally remembering what had caused all of this, he looked down at the small, palm-sized computer.

  “See what you can make of this,” Liam said as he handed it to Steve.

  Steve took the computer and began to cycle through the contents. As Steve examined the computer, Liam turned back to Jaera.

  “You didn’t answer the question . . . what are you doing here? You were supposed to stay with the engineering crews.”

  “I wished to see what information they had recovered--anything that could have damaged you permanently or could be used in their assault on Earth.”

  “Get back to your team,” was all Liam said.

  After Jaera left, Liam turned to Steve. “Stay here while you go over that computer and also search the room for anything. Tim, stay here as well.”

  Both nodded an affirmative before Liam turned and headed out of the room. Evan, Crystal, and Dimitri quietly fell in behind as they headed down the passageway.

  “Liam, where are we going?” Evan asked after they had been walking in silence for several minutes.

  “You’ll see,” was all Liam said.

  After another fifteen minutes, Liam stopped at a door, reached up, and pressed the door’s activation switch. Slowly, the door opened and they stepped through.

  “Whoa!” said Crystal.

  All looked with open mouths upon ten exact duplicates of the white crescent fighter that Liam now flew.

  “They are called Shrike heavy fighters. I would say there are enough to refit Necro Squadron. It is up to you, but these fighters are more maneuverable than our Scorpions, as we all know. I would have told you all sooner, but I wanted to keep these as a surprise. So what do you think? Shall you keep your Scorpions, or would you prefer one of these?” asked Liam.

  “You have to ask? Of course, I want one,” said Evan excitedly.

  Crystal and Dimitri as well said they also wanted one.

  “Well, then, let’s check them out.”

  All four walked about the pristine fighters as Liam went over the different systems and weapon systems of the vehicles. After nearly an hour, the others knew the systems, and Liam was confident they would have no problems. As they sat talking on one of the fighters--with Crystal sitting in the cockpit--Liam’s headset chimed and Tim’s voice emitted from it.

  “Commander Brennan, please acknowledge.”

  “This is Brennan, go ahead,” acknowledged Liam.

  “Sir, you need to get down here . . . Steve and I found something rather disturbing,” said Tim, his voice sounding severely troubled.

  “What is it?” asked Liam, his attention now fully on the conversation.

  “I don’t think we should discuss this over an open frequency,” said Tim.

  “Okay, on my way,” replied Liam.

  Closing the channel, Liam lightly hopped off the Shrike’s wing upon which he had been sitting and immediately headed for the door. Evan, Crystal, and Dimitri had to rush to catch up to him.

  Ten
minutes later, they came to the room Liam had left Steve and Tim in. Entering the room, they found them standing in front of the examination table. Upon the table was a dead Shenkar warrior. By the looks of it, Tim had done an autopsy upon the Shenkar.

  “Okay, we are here--what is it?” asked Liam.

  “Well, you know how the Meshtrell have seemed to go to great lengths for us not to examine any Shenkar, saying that they carry deadly diseases. Well, Steve was going over some notes he found in Scyren’s personal computer--detailed notes on the human physiology compared to the Shenkar’s. I think you better take a look.”

  Steve held out the personal computer to Liam. Taking the computer, Liam began to read. All seemed typical as the document examined physiology and the differences of human to Shenkar. Liam continued to read, not seeing what was so unusual. Then he came to it and his breath caught. He reread the same notes three times before he looked up at Tim, his eyes wide with shock.

  “This can’t be right . . . no way it can be right. Did you confirm this?” he asked as he indicated the Shenkar’s body before him.

  “Yes, I ran the test five times . . . all results came back positive,” said Tim gravely.

  Tim then picked up a scalpel and pointed toward the dead Shenkar warrior. As Liam leaned in, Tim reached into the chest of the Shenkar and pulled aside a large organ.

  “See here,” he said, pointing with the scalpel.

  When Liam nodded, Tim then continued. “Well, as you can see, the physiology matches what you have read. Yes, there are differences, but for the most part, the general makeup is a match. Also, I ran DNA tests, and they pretty much confirmed my suspicions. We need to show the Admiral this--things are just too close to be a coincidence.”

  “Okay, gather the information and then let’s go. Steve, stay here and make sure that neither Jaera or any of the other Meshtrell try and come back in.”

  November 12, 2012, 7:55 p.m. ESTBattlecruiser Tryliene, Bridge

  Liam entered the bridge and immediately spotted the Admiral speaking with one of the engineering crew. Quickly, he walked up to the Admiral, snapped off a quick salute, and launched into speech before the Admiral could even return the salute.

  “Sir, Tim has found something you need to see,” he said as he held out the handheld computer.

  With a slight look of confusion, the Admiral took the computer and began to read. After a few minutes, the Admiral looked up, a look of shock on his face.

  “Yes, it’s all true. Tim has confirmed it,” Liam said to the Admiral’s unasked question.

  “STOP!” yelled the Admiral.

  At first, Liam was taken aback, wondering what it was that had angered the Admiral. But he quickly noticed that the Admiral was looking past him. Turning, Liam saw that Jaera was attempting to sneak off the bridge. At the sound of the Admiral’s voice, however, Jaera began to move quickly toward the door, more quickly than Liam would have expected of the little Meshtrell.

  “SEIZE HIM!” yelled the Admiral.

  Seeing that the closest marines wouldn’t be able to grab the alien before it escaped through the door, Liam made his decision. Throwing up his hand, he focused on the fleeing alien and the electrical energies that surrounded it. Right before the little alien was about to jump through the door, Liam seized Jaera. With a backward flick of his hand, Liam summoned Jaera back through the air into the hands of the two pursuing marines.

  Admiral Kelvin looked from Liam’s outstretched hand to Jaera and back again before looking up at Liam. “We will need to discuss what just happened later, Mr. Brennan,” said the Admiral.

  “Yes, sir,” Liam said as he lowered his hand.

  Turning back to the two marines, he summoned them to bring Jaera forward. Then abruptly turning, he signaled everyone to follow as he exited the bridge into a small side office. Turning, he waited until everyone was present before he spoke, asking the two marines to wait outside. Crystal and Dimitri took up positions on either side of the door as Evan and Liam stood to either side of Jaera with Tim on Liam’s other side.

  Looking down at the Meshtrell, the Admiral fixed an angry stare upon Jaera. Thrusting the small computer at the Meshtrell, he waited until Jaera took it.

  “What is this? No more lies. I want the truth now or I’ll jettison you out the nearest airlock!” commanded Admiral Kelvin.

  Jaera looked down and briefly read what was displayed upon the computer. Looking up, Jaera seemed to study the Admiral for a time, probably measuring whether the threat was genuine, before speaking. “ Yes, it is true,” was all the Meshtrell said.

  Looking as if he was ready to tear the little alien’s head off, the Admiral shifted his hands from in front of him to behind his back.

  “I know it is true! What I want to know is, how is this possible?”

  “I would think it is obvious. Humans and Shenkar are indirectly related,” Jaera said.

  The Admiral looked from Jaera to Liam to Tim to Evan with a look of absolute frustration. Throwing up his hands, he turned and walked to a view port and gazed out at the stars.

  “Will one of you try? If I continue, I am going to throttle him . . . it . . . well, you know who I mean,” said Admiral Kelvin.

  Liam and Evan looked at each other, but it was Tim who decided to take a turn at this point.

  “What the Admiral is trying to say is, how is it possible for humans’ and Shenkars’ genetic codes to be so close a match?”

  At this, Jaera seemed to take time to think of what to say. It was a long time with Jaera just staring up at them before speaking.

  “Perhaps it is time you knew the truth. I must warn you, though, that if this information gets out, it could possibly cause great damage to the human race.”

  Jaera looked to each to confirm that they all wished the Meshtrell to continue.

  “We the Meshtrell are great scientists, always searching to create, to make life better. Many centuries ago, we realized that while we were superior in intelligence, we were lacking in other attributes such as vitality, strength, and dexterity. We came to the conclusion that we needed a workforce--servants, as you might put it. So we began to work at creating a humanoid race for just this purpose.

  “Many times, we tried to create such a race, but something seemed to be missing. Some were not aggressive enough, whereas others were too aggressive. Many failures we suffered, yet we were not deterred by such failures. After many failed experiments, we created the Shenkar: a race of superior humanoids that were perfect in all ways we could find. They were strong, virile, and intelligent beyond preliminary expectations.

  “But with all our superior intelligence, we also suffered from another flaw . . . arrogance. In our arrogance, we immediately put the Shenkar to work in our everyday lives. We used them for everything . . . from brute manual labor to just the little things. In our arrogance, we underestimated the Shenkar’s intelligence and, even worse, their ambitions. While they performed all their duties, they watched and learned. Soon they moved into vital positions, such as securing weapons. Soon after, they massed a massive military and struck before we ever realized something was amiss. They were ruthless in their assault . . . sowing destruction at an unimaginable scale. Before the Shenkar, we ruled thirteen worlds, and in the end, we became a race of wanderers. Consequently, you see, in our arrogance, we were our own destroyers.”

  Silence filled the room as Jaera stood watching them. After several tense and silent moments passed, Tim spoke up. “So how do humans factor into this?”

  “Well, you see, like I said before, we failed several times before we arrived at the creation of the Shenkar. In truth, the human race was a failure, an experiment we created and, for one reason or another, was deemed a failure. Our initial creation of man resulted in a savage animal-like race, what you refer to as Neanderthal man. While you showed signs of intelligence and at times were quite resourceful, you were, for our needs, useless. Therefore, you see, it really wasn’t by accident we found you. For while we had deemed you a
failure, one of my ancestors had not seen it that way. My ancestor believed that while at first you were seen as a failure, in fact you just needed time to mature. So unbeknownst to us, my ancestor arranged to have the human race monitored in secret by a sect of Meshtrell.

  “After we suffered such a devastating assault by the Shenkar, we fled our home world with the remnants of our race. We were on the run, constantly on the move, to avoid being found by the Shenkar. It was then that one of the secret sect--Reeta, to be exact--came forth to reveal their secret . . . the human race. You see, over the centuries, the secret sect had continued their work. Expeditions were taken to Earth in secret to continue to monitor the development of the human race. It was a light to our darkness, for all preliminary tests showed your race as our only hope.”

  Again, silence filled the room at this news. Liam knew what something like this would to do the human race. The concept of the human race being created by an alien race would create pandemonium. Many ruled their lives through religion, basing decisions of right and wrong by their beliefs. If there were no God or heaven, many would feel there were no longer any consequences to what was right and wrong. While in many ways, it would solve a lot of the problems created by the religious zealots of the world, it would in the end create havoc beyond measure.

  Liam looked from the little Meshtrell to the Admiral, but it was Tim who spoke first. “We can’t let this information be known . . . it would create more problems than you can imagine. A world without religion? People would feel there was no longer any reason to fear heaven or hell, to be judged in the eyes of God. It would become a life without consequences.”

  Evan spoke up, his voice full of worry. “I agree . . . don’t get me wrong, I loathe religion, but the damage this would cause would be irreparable. The human race isn’t ready for a world without God.”

  “So what do we do? It is bound to get out eventually. For all we know, people might simply say there still is a God and he created the Meshtrell,” said Dimitri from behind them.