There they are.
Teresa spotted the small group of Alliance personnel waiting at the end of the long lines of soldiers. They waited patiently, though were chatting with several of the citizens of Helios. It was only then that she raised her eyes to look at the world around her. The planet seemed to be one giant city, with massive buildings, spires, and raised roads in every direction. Even the place where she walked appeared to be up in the sky and lifted well above the planet’s surface. Spacecraft rushed past as though involved in a never-ending race through the clouds. Further up, she could make out the silhouettes of massive transports moving slowly or lifting up into the atmosphere.
How high are we? she wondered, looking to Gun.
“Have you ever seen such a place?”
Gun shook his head.
“This must be what Old Earth was like,” he said in almost hushed tones.
Teresa was surprised at his choice of worlds to consider. Not that she had ever visited the birthplace of humanity, but the idea that Gun would hold it in such esteem was very unexpected. She thought back to the video streams of Earth in the past, the days before space travel was common. Back then citizens had travelled using land vehicles and aircraft, but she couldn’t remember seeing anything like the vast structures around her.
“No, I don’t think even Earth at its peak was like this.”
The images of the overharvested backwater of Earth returned to her thoughts, and she felt saddened at the idea that alien worlds could achieve such greatness whereas the jewel of humanity had been stripped of its resources and irradiated by industry and war.
There is time for us to change.
“May I introduce Commander Gun and Major Morato, the leaders of the unit that halted the enemy ship,” explained the Marine Corps General in a calm and sincere tone.
Alongside him was the armored form of T’Kron, the leader of the T’Kari Exiles and now the interpreter for the Alliance task force. As the General spoke, so T’Kron translated into the alien tongue of the Helions. A pair of the pale skinned Helions stood alongside General Daniels and the scarred shape of Admiral Anderson, the two leaders of the combined naval and marine force in that part of space. The two Helions were dressed in a multi-colored garb, covering them from their throats to their ankles in a feather light material that floated and moved with the gentle air current. Teresa smelled the warm air and noted a subtle fragrance, one that reminded her of the open fields of Kerberos. The atmosphere was slightly dry but far from uncomfortable. She looked at them both and nodded, but Gun spoke first.
“Hello, I am Gun, commander of the 17th Battalion and leader of the Jötnar.”
Teresa looked at him; surprised he’d mentioned his role outside of the Marine Corps. It hardly seemed relevant, as he was there as a military commander. His position among his own people was as contentious as the fact that as an ex-Biomech, he now led a large unit of warriors. She suspected he had other reasons for bringing it up at such a delicate moment, perhaps trying to cement the fact that his people were both part of the Alliance and also something different. She could hardly blame him. The Jötnar were still distrusted by a large percentage of the older population. It would be generations before the stigma of being the sires of the Biomech monsters would start to fade. At least she hoped that would be the case.
“Major Teresa Morato. I am second-in-command of the 17th Battalion of the Alliance Marine Corps.”
She looked to Gun and then to the alien delegates.
Oh, screw this, why not?
“I am from Carthago, one of our older colonies in the Alliance. A world famed for politicians and…warriors.”
It was some time since she’d been back on her homeworld. Carthago had been the most troubled planet in the Alliance, going right back to the first colonization of Alpha Centauri. Even now there was fighting and trouble, with many of the poor citizens joining religious groups, trade unions, and on some occasions militant factions. It was a rough, violent world but perfect for recruiting tough, uncompromising warriors.
Just like me, she considered ruefully.
Both Helions remained impassive, and only the taller of the two said anything. Its voice was dull and quiet, but it didn’t matter as both were forced to wait while T’Kron translated. Teresa looked at them and tried to avoid showing her true feelings. They seemed weak and feeble in comparison to her own kind, and it was starting to intrigue her. The gravity was almost identical to that of Terra Nova, and the atmospheric makeup was perfectly breathable and safe for her to use. They were advanced both technologically and politically, and appeared healthy. The only thing she could think of was that their race rejected the physical form, though why she couldn’t fathom. She had always assumed that if they had come across alien races, they would be stronger and more powerful. This was the exact opposite.
“Harlan, Minister for this district welcomes you, and all of your people to Helios.”
So, Harlan is the one that spoke.
The Helions spoke to each other and then again to T’Kron. By the time his translators started to work, a number of seconds had passed by, and the situation had become less comfortable. Teresa was sure she’d read somewhere that a silence longer than four seconds was the threshold for it becoming uncomfortable. This one seemed much longer.
“You have been invited to join your comrades in our Council session. It is a way of welcoming you to their world and to your seat.”
Harlan indicated toward General Daniels and Admiral Anderson.
“”You will be introduced to the representatives of the remaining five.”
Five, thought Teresa in surprise.
The last she’d heard there were seven, including the T’Kari plus of course the eighth race, the ones behind the Biomechs, the Raiders, the Echidna Union and pretty much every other trouble she could think of. T’Kron seemed as surprised at the Helion’s words and spoke in an agitated tone to Harlan. This went on for almost a complete minute while the Alliance officers watched on in confusion. They finally finished, and T’Kron looked to Admiral Anderson.
“There has been trouble here, serious trouble. We will know more in the Council.”
Gun turned and leaned closer to her.
“Trouble. Are you surprised?”
Teresa grinned.
Admiral Anderson motioned for them to follow, and in seconds the entire group was leaving the landing area and walking on the flat and completely exposed path. It felt like metal beneath her feet yet grippy and quiet. It was at least fifteen meters wide, completely straight, and led away from their spacecraft. Anderson moved to Teresa and spoke in a hushed tone.
“The next few minutes might surprise you, just go with it.”
Teresa wasn’t quite sure what to make of that and decided to concentrate on the area where they were. They had already passed the small group in front to see nothing but emptiness leading to a wide opening in the closest building. The structure was massive, easily as big as the state buildings on Terra Nova. The shape was of a great dome sitting upon a sculpted form of something similar to a great crater. As they moved nearer, Teresa could see shapes carved into the exterior of the building. It was outlines of continents, rivers, and oceans.
A model of Helios, perhaps?
Finally, they reached the entrance and a group of the orange clothed guards. They stood at each side and looked directly at each other, completely ignoring eye contact with any of the visitors to their world. Even this far from the interior, Teresa could see how it was shaped with nearly two-dozen spaces cut directly into the structure. They ran around the perimeter with a separate raised platform in the middle that extended up almost three meters. In some of the open spaces hung a gaudy symbol with odd colors and representations on them, though not one looked the same as the next. Small groups of two or three armed guards patrolled a raised gallery looking down into the Council itself. Teresa instantly saw how vulnerable it would make them all to the ravages of a sniper.
Great, one m
ore thing to worry about.
Harlan stopped once inside and turned to face them. Ayndir stood beside him like a heroic champion in comparison. Teresa had never considered the T’Kari to be much when it came to physical combat, but it was becoming clearer to her that of all the races known to this world, the T’Kari were the exception to the norm.
We are the strong ones, she thought with amusement.
Ayndir nodded to the small party of Alliance commanders before speaking. She must have rehearsed her words as she spoke in clear, though heavily accentuated English rather than using her suit's inbuilt translator.
“This is the great Council, the meeting place for our comrades in the stars. Here we discuss and debate the great questions of the galaxy. It is the public face of trade, politics, and even war between our many worlds.”
She then turned and raised her hands to the interior of the building. All of them moved inside and stopped to gaze at the grandeur of the place. Teresa counted scores of sculptures, and her eyes were drawn away to pieces of art that were over ten meters tall. Everything from spaceships and cities to great battles and natural disasters were modeled in exquisite detail. She looked at each of the designated areas that formed the circle and could now see the colors and shapes more clearly. Seating for forty to fifty people was positioned in a number of them, though only seven flew the great standards that hung on the walls behind them.
“These are for your nations?” she asked.
Ayndir shook her head and resorted to her translator. The artificial sounds it created sounded louder and higher pitched than before. She looked at the designated areas as she spoke.
“Each of these is reserved for the delegations of the five remaining Powers.”
“Powers? As in empires?” asked Anderson, stepping closer.
Ayndir looked hopefully around the chamber. Her eyes betrayed a well-concealed emotion. Teresa knew immediately it was clearly a place that meant a great deal to her. She had already forgotten how long it had been since the T’Kari had been on this world. Since then their society had been almost completely destroyed. Ayndir regained her composure and continued.
“Yes, the term is not strictly correct of course, but in the past there were the seventeen Powers, including us and the Helions. Each of these spaces is for one of those Powers. Over time, societies have changed and empires merged. Some were even completely lost to disease or war. One, an ancient society we called the Trusska committed mass suicide and destroyed their Rift from within. Nobody knows why. You can see the standard of Helios over there.”
Anderson, Gun, and Teresa all looked in the direction of the furthest of the areas. It was hexagonal in shape and filled with two-dozen carved chairs, each constructed from a dull, metallic material. On the wall behind stood six statues and a great orange flag with a burning sun at its core.
“Our own standard flies next to them; you will see it has been covered for some time.”
A number of Helion officials were busy unfurling an ancient and badly faded standard from a long copper color tube. As they raised it, several small sections fell away, and marks covered it like an ancient battle standard. Unlike the colorful design of the Helions, the T’Kari standard was faded gray with a dark mechanical shape in the center.
“We will have to replace it,” said Ayndir with a sheepish smile.
Ayndir then looked back at the open space and pointed towards the most unusual of them all. There was no seating, just a plinth of roughly four square meters and almost a meter high. The top was badly damaged and blackened with age and fire.
“That one used to be used by the Eighth of the remaining Powers. They used a projector machine and virtual presence long before our last war. We have images of this plinth back on Hades. It is used as a reminder of the old machines and what remains of them on Helios.”
Anderson turned to Gun and Teresa.
“Interesting. So this is the place where the future of billions was determined.”
Gun nodded.
“Yes, and where the creators spoke with them.”
He turned and looked toward the shattered plinth with a look of anger forming on his brow. Anderson hadn’t noticed, but Teresa knew him extremely well, and it was a look she’d often seen prior to him losing his temper. She reached out and placed her hand on his arm.
“Gun?” she asked quietly.
He turned his head just a few centimeters.
“Yeah, I know.”
Teresa knew she didn’t need to say anything more to him. Instead, Gun looked back at the space and let out a slow, long breath. She tried to imagine what it must be like to see where the people that created him had once been, acting as the equals of the others. Finally, he turned and interrupted the conversation going on between Harlan, Ayndir, and Anderson.
“What happened to them, and the other Powers?”
Teresa had spotted something else, and it drew her away from the group. A space had been left, and it looked as if no one had ever sat there in the past. The floor was spotless, almost mirrored. The wall behind it was featureless and lacked a standard, sculptures, or any kind of artworks. Ayndir started to speak, but Harlan lifted his hand and stopped her. He stepped toward Teresa and gazed upon the open space with her. Ayndir stood alongside, letting her equipment translate his words directly.
“This space is one of the ten that are reserved for the lost people.”
Teresa lifted her head back slightly, but deep down she had a strong suspicion of what was coming next.
“As our peoples came together, here, on this very planet, we understood how life originated in different parts of space at the same time. First there was just us, and then we found others, like our friends the T’Kari. These ten spaces are reserved for new discoveries. There were thirteen spaces only six hundred years ago.”
He then stepped down and placed his hand on the ground in the untouched space.
“This place is now for your own people, the Centauri Alliance. You will be introduced to the others, and if they agree, you shall be formally accepted as one of the sentient Powers.”
Teresa was stunned at the news and turned on the spot to look at Gun and Anderson.
“Uh, did you know about this?”
Anderson smiled back.
“Ayndir told us this might happen. Why do you think we have civilian Alliance officials landing at this very moment?”
“We’ve only just met them though. Why would they just accept us into this, well, whatever it is?”
Anderson nodded in agreement.
“I know. Ayndir has explained this place is not a place of power. This chamber is a meeting place, no more. The Helions want us here so they can learn and keep tabs on us. We will do the same. Think of it as a massive embassy used by all nations, in one place.”
Teresa wasn’t convinced, but the decision had evidently been made back on Terra Nova. She looked back at the space and tried to imagine the standard of the Centauri Alliance hanging from the wall. As nice as the idea was, she simply couldn’t picture the human designs in such an alien place. Gun had no such problems and strode past her to step into the space. He stood in the middle, looked about, and then reached for the ever-present blade on his thigh. In a single swift movement, he pulled out the blade and cut it across his palm. Harlan and the other Helions in the great building watched in horror as his red blood dripped to the floor, leaving dark patches on the ground. One rushed forward with a dressing, but Gun shook his head and simply tore part of his uniform fabric away and wrapped it around his wound.
“Yes,” he stated, “this is Alliance territory now.”
Teresa stepped down and joined him. She held out her hand for him to do the same while Anderson watched, shaking his head in annoyance. As her blood joined Gun’s on the ground, he started to laugh.
“You’re both as bad as Spartan.”
* * *
The sight of the human visitors was as much of a surprise to Harlan as it was to the visitors themselves. He
walked away from them and joined Ayndir who was also busy watching them. They looked on in confusion as the three aliens stood in their sacred space and committed their first act in the peaceful great chamber, the spilling of their own blood. Gun stood out the most, but Anderson and Major Morato looked equally barbaric in their military uniforms and carrying primitive weapons.
“They are animals, Ayndir. Why have you brought them to us?” asked Harlan.
Ayndir watched the three standing in their reserved placed for a few more seconds, finally turning back to the feeble looking Helion leader.
“It is good to see our loyal friends of Helios still protecting what is important.”
The venom in her voice was clear, but Harlan chose to ignore it. Ayndir nodded toward the visitors.
“I have seen them in battle, and they are as ferocious and resourceful as the Great Enemy. They defeated them in their sector and turned their technology against them.”
Harlan shook his head.
“This makes no sense.”
“They are our only chance against the Enemy. You know the prophecy.”
Harlan lowered his head slightly as he spoke.
“The warrior race will mark the beginning of the end time.”
The words were flat, as if he were reciting an old phrase he’d heard so many times that its words had lost almost all of their meaning. He shook his head in frustration.
“Your Rift is the only one that was not reopened. We assumed you had been consumed by some tragedy. Tell me about T’Karan? Every one of our allies was either consumed and destroyed or fought off their agents to make themselves stronger than before. When you closed your Rift, your worlds were defended by millions, and your armed forces more powerful than even ours. Why did you not return?”
Star Crusades Nexus: Book 03 - Heroes of Helios Page 3