Now, as I said before, our new sun was a dying sun, in its death throes, if you would. Over several generations, our skin adapted to the different light and our eyes were genetically altered to make it easier for us to see in our low-light environment. Over the generations, we began to outgrow our colony and spread out to other areas of the planet. Before long, we had made our new civilization and named ourselves the Vyysarri to honor the ship that brought us there and sustained our lives for so long.
With the specialists’ knowledge being passed on from generation to generation, we built cities and eventually were able to obtain enough resources to begin a space program here. We started exploring the local systems and found nothing of value. Almost overnight, our civilization grew too big for our planet’s meager food supply. We needed to expand. And expand we did. We used our superior strength to dominate populations of smaller planets. And we thrived. I am not proud of our history; we could have found a way to peacefully coexist with the peoples upon whom we relied. But our bloodlust got the better of us.
Once we were able to make our own Eve’Zon drives, we decided to reconnect with the Seryysans, to regain that past we lost for thousands of years.
A little less than a thousand years ago, we traveled to the nearest Seryysan colony. We made first contact with them and Prime Minister Castur flew out personally to greet us. Together we sat and had several days of talks. Castur wanted to subjugate us, turn us into servants to labor in the mines of Seryys and put us into the military. He said it was “the easiest way to reintegrate our civilization into theirs” and said that we had lost our way, that we needed to be “tamed, domesticated” like animals. He truly felt that he was doing us a favor.
Needless to say, our leaders were not pleased with this proposal. We left and returned to our home to rethink whether joining the Seryys society was really what we wanted. After weeks of internal strife, including protests, riots and more unnecessary violence, we decided to never make contact with the Seryys people again, that we did not need their companionship to fulfill ourselves. That planted the seed. Your people watered that seed by continuously encroaching on our space, sending small teams to assassinate our world leaders and plant your own operatives in their places to convince our people to be slaves to yours. We had almost five hundred years to build our ships and our armies in the event that you conducted an all-out invasion.
And then there was the final blow, the reason we live in space colonies adrift in the stars rather than with our feet on the ground, the soil we called home.
Chapter Eighteen
Sibrex produced a laser disk, rather old by design and handed it to Khai, his hand trembling with subdued rage.
“This vyyd disk is carried by every Vyysarri warrior. Nearly every attack on Seryys City was to plant this in one of the major communication relays that would broadcast a signal to every colony in Seryys Space. Watch this,” he said, his voice shaking. “And you will know our pain. You will know what fate befell us. Now go. There is a video device in your room.”
Khai silently stood, disk in hand, and left. Every eye was on him as he walked back to his quarters. He did not stop to observe anything; in fact he didn’t even look beyond his boots. His curiosity was killing him. He so desperately wanted to get back so he could watch it, but didn’t want to run, to look too eager.
After what seemed like forever, he finally rounded the corner into the deserted detention block and bounded the rest of the way to his cell. As Sibrex indicated, a vyyd unit was waiting there for him. He plugged the disk into the drive and waited anxiously for it to start.
“This is Doctor Tash’Door Tashar,” she said, her voice strained. Her face was badly bruised and she looked to be malnourished, “and I am the leading physicist of Operation: Bright Star. If you are viewing this, then the Vyysarri were successful in their mission. This is a warning to the Seryysan People.
“Operation: Bright Star was sanctioned and funded by the Seryys government to wipe out the Vyysarri people in a preemptive strike to eliminate the Vyyarri threat before it became one. I was chosen to ensure that the plan was carried out to the letter and it was successful.”
“Roughly four thousand years ago, the brightest scientific minds Seryys had to offer developed a method of saving the Seryys System—and several other systems at the same time—by stopping the aging process of a star. The unforeseen results were that the aging process was actually reversed. It was speculated that we could exploit the Vyysarris’ susceptibility to UV light by doing the same to their sun and rendering their planet uninhabitable to them. We had hoped that the Vyysarri would spread out into the galaxy and die off. As I said before, the mission was a success and the Vyysarri have fled their planet.”
“Unfortunately, by the time this attack was planned, the Vyysarri had spent the last five hundred years building their war machine and were ready to retaliate. I was captured along with the crew that delivered the weapon. The crew is dead and I will be by the end of the day. I am sending out a warning to the Seryys people. They have the Bright Star Schematics and are not afraid to use them! You must stop them at all costs! Mom, if you see this-” her plea was stopped short as the Vyysarri slit her throat and drank her blood right there in front of the camera. Khai had to turn it off, as the gargled sounds of her screams and the blood orgy that ensued were still too much for him to watch.
“Founders help us…”
Dah stood outside the makeshift operating room, pacing back and forth like a nervous father waiting for a child to be born. It was almost ten hours after the surgery began when a doctor came out, blood smeared over his scrubs.
“How is she, doc?”
“She’s a tough little girl. I was able to remove the bullets and stop the bleeding. But she still has multiple internal injuries. Bullets ripped through pretty much every non-vital organ in her body. How they missed her heart and lungs, is quite beyond me. I guess the Founders were smiling on her.”
“Is she going to make it?”
“I think so,” the doctor said, prompting a relieved sigh from Dah.
“Can I see her?”
“Maybe tomorrow. For now, she needs sleep.”
“Okay. Thank you, doctor.”
The next day, Dah sat with every single person he rescued, including the officers of the SCPD, in Kay’s room. He was getting impatient. It was touching to see all these people being reunited and all, but Puar was still out there somewhere and he needed Dah’s help. Man! I could really use Khai right now, he thought.
“Okay, guys,” Dah said, standing up. “I came through with my end of the bargain, probably at the cost of my career. So now it’s your turn. Where is Trall keeping Puar?”
All the Agents huddled around Kay’s bed for a little discussion. It only took a few minutes, though it seemed like a whole lot longer than that. When they emerged from their huddle, Kay spoke for all of them.
“Puar is being held at the Bunker. We have the exact location on this digital map right here.” She handed him the device. “It’s not easy to get in. In fact, that would be the biggest understatement of the millennium. It’s heavily fortified with SPEARs and more security protocol than the Honorifical Office.”
“Is Trall with him?”
“No,” Kay said. “He is under close watch at the Honorifical Office. But I wouldn’t worry about him right now.”
“Why?” Dah asked.
“Your priority is to find Puar. We’ll take care of Trall.”
“How?”
“We have our ways.”
“So who’s with me to save Puar?” Dah asked, renewed hope filling his heart.
“I have to go. That’s my brother out there,” Puar said, prompting a satisfied nod from Dah.
“Who else?” Nothing. “Don’t all jump up at once!”
“If we’re going to meet as much resistance as we did protecting these people, it’s suicide!” Naad pointed out.
“Not to mention those SPEARs protecting the place,” Brix a
dded.
“Are you kidding me?” Dah asked shocked.
“We’re brave, Captain, not stupid,” Brix continued, then frowned as everyone looked at him incredulously. He ignored them and continued. “We would need nearly an army to get in there. It is, after all, the place where the Prime Minister goes during an invasion.”
“But we have the element of surprise, and intel,” Dah said jabbing a finger at the Agents. “They know every way in and out of that bunker. Hell, we could probably get in, get the Prime Minister and get out before they even knew we were there.”
“Not likely,” Kay said. “There are motion trackers imbedded in the walls throughout the facility. The moment you step in, the building’s defenses will activate.”
“You’re not helping me, here,” Dah growled at Kay.
“It’s insane!” Naad snapped. “We’ll be dead before we breach the first door.”
“Fine,” Dah said stubbornly. “Then it’ll just be me and Puar. To hell with the rest of you guys!”
“Dack, come on!” Naad grumbled, his dark eyes betraying the guilt he felt. “Don’t be like that!”
“Then what should I be like, Naad, huh? Just tuck tail and run? Leave Puar to his fate? No! I won’t do it!”
While Puar and his friend fought over who was helping, the Agents huddled again and spoke amongst themselves. Kay interrupted them.
“Captain Dah!” she said as forcefully as she could. “We will accompany you.”
“No. Not you, Kay. You’re too hurt and won’t be ready. I can’t let you put yourself in jeopardy. Trust me, you’ve done more than I could have asked. But the rest…”
“We will fight for you, Captain Dah,” another Agent spoke up. “You saved our families and helped us break our bonds of servitude. Trall must be punished for his crimes, but this nation needs a leader first.”
“Thank you, guys… really.”
“Ah shit!” Naad growled.
“What?” Dah asked.
“I can’t go letting kids risk their lives for this. If they’re going, I’m going.”
“Now you’re talking,” Dah said slapping him on the shoulder.
“Well,” Brix grumbled. “I suppose I can’t let you guys take all the credit. I mean, this is like real hero stuff.”
“Then it’s settled,” the Agent said. “We will all go together. We will fight together. We will bleed together and we will die together.”
“Well,” Naad interjected. “I’m not dying.”
“Okay,” Dah said. “We need schematics of the bunker, weapons, armor… and a miracle.”
Khai sat in his cell the rest of the day. He replayed the video over and over again on the Net’Vyyd and in his head. Now he understood the hatred that the Vyysarri felt for them. Their home was destroyed and they were forced to scatter to the solar winds and regroup. They practically had to rebuild their entire civilization. It occurred to him that that was yet another reason they appeared to be so aggressive. Without the ability to eat food, they were forced to raid other civilizations and harvest their blood to sustain themselves. Khai’s heart almost broke for them; he would seek revenge, too, if his planet had been destroyed. The next day he emerged and found Sibrex waiting for him, his hands tucked into the sleeves of a long, dark cloak. His face betrayed nothing; it was motionless, emotionless, like chiseled stone. Khai approached, saying nothing. The look on his face said it all. Khai couldn’t believe he fought so long, so hard for Seryys when they were the ones who precipitated the war to begin with.
At length, Sibrex broke the silence. “What do you think of our people now?”
“I don’t know,” Khai answered honestly. “Do you really have the Bright Star technology?”
“We do,” Sibrex said bluntly.
“Then…”
“Why haven’t we used it?”
“Yeah.”
“Because we were not interested in genocide, just to be left alone.”
“Live and let live,” Khai said.
“Precisely. That recording was designed to scare you all into leaving us be.”
“So then why have your people made so many unprovoked attacks on Seryys Colonies and on Serrys herself?”
Sibrex showed the first emotion since their conversation began. “For some commanders, somewhere along the line, the message was lost and it became more about wiping you out, exacting revenge. Though the majority of the attacks on Seryys were solely to upload this message.”
“And that’s when things like the Furran Massacre happened,” Khai said folding his arms.
“Yes,” Sibrex looked down at his feet. He clearly didn’t like the history that played out.
“So what do we do now?”
Sibrex looked up him, a twinkle of hope in his red eyes. “You mean… you’ll help us?”
“Yes, I will. The truth needs to be known. A long time ago, I asked myself when this war would end. Now I think I know the answer to that question. But I do have one question for you.”
“Ask.”
“You said you left when you learned the ‘truth’ about something. What were you talking about?”
Sibrex nodded, fully understanding his confusion. “It was just over a hundred years ago when a radical faction of renegades called the Crimson Truth revealed information that shook the Vyysarri people to the very foundations of their beliefs. Until that moment, we all thought that we evolved on our own, on that planet. When pictures of the Starship Vyysar and its crew, captained by Vyys’Ari Vyysar, began circulating, people began to protest the war outright. They began defying our government. Riots gripped the streets and our whole society began to tear itself apart.
“Two major factions emerged, the Warmongers and the Reluctants. The Warmongers pushed to retake Vyysar and set up a strong defense parameter around our space, while the Reluctants hesitated because they were not sure that further bloodshed with your kind was the answer. However, the hate for your people ran deeper than our blood and the Warmongers became the new government while the Reluctants disbanded.”
“But for four hundred years of the war you had the weapon and didn’t use it. Why?”
“The government knew who you were,” Sibrex explained. “They didn’t want to wipe you out, just scare you into leaving them alone.”
“But you were never successful,” Khai murmured, regret filling his voice. “Whatever happened to Vyysar?”
“The armies of Vyysar tried several times to retake what was rightfully ours, but were repelled on every attempt. We just-”
“Wait,” Khai interrupted. “You tried retaking your homeworld? From who?”
“The Seryysans. Why?”
“What planet was once Vyysar?”
“I do not remember,” Sibrex said, his eyes darting back and forth as if searching his mind for the answer. “No. I cannot remember the name, but I went there once… when I was a young, foolhardy boy itching for blood. I sustained an injury to my head which has wiped most of that memory clean… thankfully.”
“The name! What the hell was the name?” Khai growled, clenching his fists in frustration.
“All I can remember was that a training facility sat on it.” That didn’t narrow it down much. There were ten planets in the outer regions that had military training facilities on them. But…
“There’s only one planet in the Seryys System that has a high-grav training facility, Gor’Tsu Gorn Planet.”
“Yes!” Sibrex whispered. “Yes, that is it.”
“That’s where I was trained...” The realization was almost more than he could handle and the cold, hard truth socked him in the gut hard enough to actually steal his breath.
“You can imagine the insult we suffered, knowing that our homeworld had been made into a facility to train soldiers bent on our destruction. We almost used the weapon on you when that happened. But, fortunately for you, cooler heads prevailed.”
“You should have,” Khai said, ruefully.
“I’m sorry?”
&nb
sp; “You should have used the weapon on us, forced us to leave our home.”
“You have,” Sibrex said.
“What do you mean?”
“Our historical records indicate that we all came from another planet. The Founders discovered Seryys and colonized it.”
“Well, every child knows that,” Khai said.
“But is that not the same thing? At some point, tens—possibly hundreds—of thousands of years ago, our people left another planet to come here. Perhaps their planet was destroyed by an enemy.”
“I see your point,” Khai relented. “But that still leaves the issue of what we do about this.”
“Play the recording. Show the Seryysans the truth about their Vyysarri brethren.”
“You have my word I will. But in the meantime, I still have five more days until my ship is in shipshape. What’s there to do around here?”
“I’m sure we could find something for you to do.”
Sibrex led the way to the Hub. Khai followed. Sibrex’s long, white hair was braided behind him and the tail flopped back and forth as he walked. They entered a small room that appeared to be a cantina of some kind. A dull roar filled the room as people conversed, sharing drinks. Sibrex led Khai to a booth and gestured for him to sit down.
“I will return.”
In just under minute, Sibrex returned with two drinks. He sat them down on the table and slid onto the seat.
“What’s this?”
“Can you hold your drink?”
“I’ve been known to drink people under the table from time to time.”
“Then drink and we shall see.”
The Seryys Chronicles: Death Wish Page 26