by Ryk Brown
“Everyone! We have cabins ready for you all!” Rorik announced from the roadway behind the truck. “And hot showers, soap, scrub brushes… Oh, and dry clothing and hot food, as well. Please, if you’ll all just follow me.”
Dumar checked baby Ailsa, who was still asleep in her mother’s arms. “She is still sleeping,” he assured Lael. “She will be fine.” Dumar closed his eyes a moment. It had pained him greatly to put the infant and her mother through such an ordeal. “I am sorry, but there was no other way.”
“I know,” Lael replied, almost too exhausted to speak. She placed her free hand on Dumar’s arm to comfort the old man. “Better that she does not remember such horrors. I only wish I could have slept through it, as well.”
“My daughter, Kyla, will help you,” Dumar assured her. “She has babies of her own, and clean clothing for both you and your child.” Dumar looked at the sleeping infant again. “What is her name?”
“Ailsa,” Lael replied.
Dumar looked at the child for a moment, then turned to his daughter. “Kyla, help her.”
Kyla moved closer and reached out for the baby. “Give her to me,” she offered. “I will hold her for you, while you climb down.”
Lael looked at Kyla, unsure if she could be trusted with the one thing that meant more to her than her own life. She then looked at Dumar, the man who had risked so much to smuggle them all out of Aitkenna. The old man nodded his encouragement, and Lael gave in, handing her baby to Kyla. “Thank you,” she said, as she started to climb down from the back of the truck.
Doran embraced his wife as he helped her down out of the back of the truck. “Go, get cleaned up,” he whispered. “I will join you shortly.” He looked beyond her, at their own, nearly grown children, who were already heading toward the cabins on the far side of the courtyard.
“Everyone, stay under the tree canopies at all times. It will keep you hidden from the surveillance satellites,” Dumar instructed the group. Now that everyone was out of the barrels and on the ground, Dumar jumped down out of the back of the truck, joining Doran, Yanni, Michi, and Tori, who were all waiting for him.
“Travon, we must talk,” Doran said.
“Yes, yes. All in due time,” Dumar promised, gesturing toward the cabins. “But first, we must get you cleaned up. If the Jung were to show up unannounced, your coloring would likely raise suspicion.”
“No, this cannot wait.”
“What is it?” Dumar asked, noticing the determination on Doran’s face.
“I could not risk communicating this over the public nets,” Doran began, “not even in code. In all the chaos, we were forced to leave something behind. Something of immeasurable value… In the Ranni labs.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Something of great importance, Travon. Something that could even change the course of humanity.”
Travon was beginning to suspect that the ordeal was causing his old friend to overdramatize things a bit, but decided to humor him for the moment. “Sounds like something we should not let fall into Jung hands, then.”
“That is an understatement.”
“Then we shall find a way to destroy it, before the Jung learn of its existence,” he assured him. “Do not worry, my friend.” Dumar placed his hand on Doran’s shoulder. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up, and get some hot food into you.”
“We cannot allow it to be destroyed,” Doran insisted, pushing Travon’s hand aside, irritated that the admiral was not taking him seriously. “Nor can we let it fall into Jung hands. We must go back for it.”
“Doran,” the admiral began, looking at him with sympathetic eyes. “Sooner or later, you’re going to have to tell me what this something is.”
Doran looked at the ground for a moment, then at doctors Sato and Megel. “Is it not enough that I am telling you that it is important?”
“Normally, yes. But these are abnormal times, Doran.”
Doran again looked at the ground, as if he were ashamed to look the admiral in the eyes. “I would be putting your life at great risk, Travon.”
“More risk than smuggling you out of an enemy-held city, only a day after its capture?” Travon wondered.
Doran looked at Michi and Tori again.
Travon exchanged a glance with Yanni, who looked as confused as he did.
“Don’t look at me,” Yanni replied. “I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. I was in data technology. They’re in bio-med.”
“He will learn the truth, sooner or later,” Doctor Megel said.
“We were conducting a research project,” Doctor Sato blurted out.
“Michi,” Doctor Megel scolded.
“He deserves to be told the truth, Tori.” She looked at Doran.
“What kind of project?” Travon asked, becoming curious.
“Cloning,” Michi replied.
Travon raised his brow suspiciously. “Cloning is not permitted by Corinairan law. In fact, most Corinairans, if not all, consider it immoral.”
“We are not Corinairan,” Michi replied.
“I see.” Dumar thought for a moment. Then it hit him. “You two are from Nifelm, aren’t you?”
“We are,” Michi replied.
A terrible thought crossed Travon’s mind. “And what, exactly, were you cloning?”
“Not what,” Doran corrected, “whom.”
“Whom, then?” Travon inquired, growing impatient, while at the same time, fearing the answer. At first, no one spoke up. Instead Michi, Tori, and Doran, all looked at each other.
Finally, Doran answered. “Nathan Scott.”
Travon took a step backwards in shock. “My God…” The implications of their actions hit him, causing him to nearly stumble. He leaned against the back of the truck, needing something to steady himself. “Do you realize the risk you are taking?”
“Admiral…” Doran pleaded.
“And you, Doran. You violated a direct order…”
“I did not,” Doran argued. “I was never given such an order. Not by you, or anyone else.”
“Don’t give me that crap,” Travon said. “You knew damn well… If the Jung discover that Nathan is alive…”
“We could not let him die, Travon…”
“He knew what he was doing when he sacrificed himself, Doran! We all knew! He knew, and he was willing…” Travon turned away in anger. “Damn it!” He spun back around, as a realization hit him. “It was Nash, wasn’t it? That brash young woman! And no doubt Telles had a hand in it. Ghatazhak logic, my ass!”
“Nathan was set up, Travon! When you gave him that mission, you knew damn well that he would likely not return! That all of them would likely not return!”
“I had no way of knowing…”
“Is that what you tell yourself?” Doran replied, cutting Travon off mid sentence. “Is that how you sleep at night? Bacca walked him right into a trap, and you saw it coming! At the very least, you suspected it! That’s why you went to see Captain Scott the night before! Look me in the eye and tell me I’m wrong!”
“It was not my call!” Travon shouted at the top of his lungs, pain in his voice as he recalled the memories that had been buried so deeply in his mind for more than seven years. “It was his, and his alone!” Travon turned away again for a moment, in obvious anguish, then turned back to look at Doran. “Don’t you see? Nathan suspected that it was a trap as well, but he knew he had to go. He knew it was his destiny to save the Earth…to save us all.”
Doran moved a step closer to his old friend, and commander, putting his hand on the admiral’s shoulder. “That’s why we did it, Travon. Because it is his destiny to save us all.”
Travon laughed mockingly. “If you start calling him Na-tan again, I swear…”
“Na-Tan, destiny, fate… Call him whatever you like,” Doran said. “You knew it then, and you know it now.” Doran shook his head. “None of us would be alive were it not for him. This very world we stand on… It would be no more than a
scorched, lifeless rock, were it not for him. We could not leave him behind, just as he would not leave us. Not then, not now…not ever.”
Dumar sighed. “We will likely die trying to save him, Doran.”
“I am willing to take that chance, as are the others. The question is, are you?”
Dumar looked at Doran and the others, then gazed off into the distance beyond them. The forest, the lake, and the mountains beyond. He had known war, pain and suffering, for more than two hundred years. But for the last five of those years, he had known peace, which was something he had never expected to experience in his lifetime. And now, it was all about to end.
“Is this clone even alive?” Travon wondered, looking for an excuse to drop the plan.
“The body is fully matured, and ready to receive Captain Scott’s consciousness and memories.”
“You can do that?” Travon questioned, finding it difficult to believe. “Just flip a switch, and bring him back to life?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Doctor Megel replied.
“And that will work? We will have Nathan back?”
“We believe that this time, it will.”
“This time?” Travon looked at Doran.
Doran took a deep breath and sighed. “It is……complicated.”
* * *
The combat jump shuttle swooped in low over the Lawrence spaceport, coming to a hover on the apron in front of the Ghatazhak facility on the far side of the field. As it descended the last few meters to the surface, its side door slid open, and Jessica jumped the last meter to the ground, unwilling to wait for the ship to land.
Jessica jogged across the tarmac toward the office at the far end of the hangar, and burst through the doors. “When were you going to tell us?” she demanded, heading straight for Deliza.
Deliza’s eyes popped open at the sight of Jessica, walking toward her with anger in her eyes. “I was afraid that…”
“When!”
“I only wanted to…”
“I could have told you as well, Jess,” Loki interrupted, stepping between Jessica and Deliza. “But I didn’t… And for the same reasons. My wife and daughter are on that planet as well.”
Jessica looked at Loki with the same anger, despite the fact that she had a much deeper bond with him than with Deliza. She had once died on his lap, in his arms, staring desperately into his eyes as the air had left her lungs. “We’re talking about Nathan, Loki. Nathan!”
“I know…”
“He sacrificed everything, so that we could live. You, your wife, your baby… Hell, your whole fucking world! And this is how you repay him?”
“It’s my fault, Jessica!” Deliza insisted, not wanting Loki to take the blame. “I told him not to say anything. He wanted to tell you, but I made him promise not to. I begged him to wait, and to let me tell you…when the time was right.”
“And when was that going to be?” Jessica demanded.
“After we got them back safely,” Deliza replied, ashamed.
“What made you think we couldn’t do both?” General Telles inquired.
“I was afraid you would put Nathan first,” Deliza admitted. “I knew that recovering his clone, and all the equipment needed to care for it, would be much more complicated, and that it would delay any rescue. I couldn’t take that chance.”
General Telles tipped his head in acknowledgment. “A logical assumption.”
“Oh, shut up,” Jessica snapped, scowling.
Telles pointed at himself. “General,” then gestured to Jessica, “lieutenant. Try to remember that. And while you’re at it, try to calm down and think clearly. Remember your training.”
Jessica turned away, as she wrestled to keep her emotions under control.
“Training?” Loki asked the general in a hushed voice.
“She joined the Ghatazhak four years ago,” General Telles explained. “She has been in training ever since.”
“Really? How’s she doing?”
“There is still room for improvement,” the general replied politely.
Jessica glared at them both.
“Much room,” the general added.
Jessica turned to Deliza, still angry, but now trying to get it under control. “You were supposed to move him off-world, to someplace safe.”
“We didn’t have the funds,” Deliza explained. “Do you know how much it costs to run that lab…even on Corinair? It would cost ten times as much if we moved off-world.”
“More like a hundred times,” Loki corrected.
Deliza looked at him.
“I saw my wife’s estimates when she was crunching the numbers for you,” he admitted.
“I trusted you, Deliza.”
“I know, and I failed you.”
“We could have helped.”
“Jess, they are so close. Michi and Tori, they really think this one is the one. Had we moved him off-world, they would have been set back years.”
“During which time, the Jung would likely expand their hold in the Pentaurus sector, and he would still be at risk of discovery,” General Telles pointed out. “So, her failure to move him off-world may turn out to be what saves him.”
Jessica turned and looked at her friend. By accepting her into the Ghatazhak, General Lucius Telles had saved her from her own self-destructive behavior, and given her a new lease on life. He had been her friend, and mentor, for the last seven years, and her commanding officer for the last four of those years. The only other man she trusted as much as him had died seven years ago, in front of her very eyes. And now, his clone, his only chance at resurrection, was trapped beneath the surface of a city overrun by the very enemy he had died trying to protect them from.
But how?
“How are we going to get him out of there?” Jessica asked the general, her anger turning to despair.
“It will not be easy,” General Telles admitted, “but there is a way.”
Jessica realized what the general was getting at. “You think…”
“Perhaps, it is finally time.”
CHAPTER TEN
President Scott stood at his office window, staring out at the lights of Winnipeg, the North American Union’s capital, and the Unified Nations of Earth, which President Scott also ruled over. Behind him, technicians scrambled to prepare for an unscheduled presidential announcement, one that he dreaded making.
As he gazed out the window at the sparkling lights of the city, he thought back to his childhood. Evenings spent sitting on his father’s knee, staring out a similar window, in a similar office, over a similar city. It had been so long ago… Nearly eight decades now. His father had often spoken about how rapidly things had changed since the discovery of the Data Ark. How the people of Earth, after eight centuries of struggling to repopulate and rebuild following the interstellar devastation of the bio-digital plague, had gone from propeller-driven aircraft to faster-than-light starships, in only a century.
Wouldn’t his father be surprised? Now, after only a decade, they had gone beyond FTL ships, and could now instantaneously jump vast distances. The Data Ark had opened up the newly reborn Earth to advanced technologies, and those technologies had opened up the galaxy to them.
Unfortunately, the cost of such advances had been great, almost more than what his world, and the core worlds of Earth, could stand. Had it not been for the sacrifice of his youngest child, who had surrendered himself to their enemy in exchange for the very cease-fire that was now being broken, most likely their fledgling alliance would not have survived the last seven years.
But now the Jung had broken their agreement, and Dayton Scott wanted nothing more than to avenge the loss of his eldest son, Eli, the loss of his wife, Marlene, and especially that of his youngest son, Nathan. It had stayed in the back of his mind for the last seven years, but he had been forced to suppress that feeling, for the good of his people…his world… For all the worlds of the Alliance. Even now, he wanted nothing more than to authorize the KKV strike that Adm
iral Galiardi had strongly recommended, but he could not. He would not be the one to escalate the tensions between them. If the Jung wanted a war, the Alliance would give it to them, and in ways the Jung could not imagine. But they needed time. It was always about time.
Gray armored vehicles emblazoned with the markings of Alliance Marines left their staging positions and began to roll through the streets of Winnipeg, their lights flashing. One by one, they turned onto Embassy Row, and accelerated quickly toward the Jung embassy at the far end of the boulevard.
“We’re ready for you, Mister President,” the broadcast director said.
President Scott turned and walked back across the office, stepping behind the podium placed in front of the logos of both the NAU and the UNE. He watched his daughter, Miri, who had remained at his side since the death of her mother, despite the needs of her own two children. Without her, he did not know how he would’ve led the Earth out of the ashes of the Jung occupation which had nearly destroyed their world eight years ago.
“Teams are in place outside the Jung embassy,” the president’s security advisor informed him. “They will go on the cue line in your speech.”
The president nodded his understanding.
“Five seconds, Mister President,” the director informed him.
“If anyone beyond the embassy gates raises a weapon, you are to cut him down,” Sergeant Major Saladan instructed the troops in the back of the first armored vehicle. “We will tolerate no resistance. If you are not sure, you fire. Is that understood?”
“Aye, sir!” the troops answered in unison.
“One minute,” the controller’s voice announced over the sergeant major’s helmet comms.
“Weapons hot!” the sergeant major ordered.
“Is it true, Biorgi?” the sergeant next to him asked. “Are we going to war?”
The president stared straight ahead at the camera, waiting until the status light turned green. “People of Earth. It is with great sadness that I speak to you tonight. One hour ago, a comm-drone arrived from the Pentaurus cluster, carrying a fateful message. The Jung Empire has invaded the worlds of the Pentaurus cluster. Defenses of both the Takaran and Darvano systems have been destroyed, and the Jung now control the entire cluster. Twelve systems, two of which were still members of the Sol-Pentaurus Alliance, a total of twenty-three inhabited worlds, are now controlled by the Jung. Even worse, the Jung forces that captured those systems did so using jump-drive technology. We do not know how the Jung acquired this technology, but such acquisition represents a dire threat to both freedom, and to humanity itself.”