by Seth Libby
As we know the Shenkar were able to construct a new fleet in roughly the six months. We might be able to fight off one maybe two more assaults against Earth but the fact of the matter is the Shenkar could eventually bleed us dry. We simply cannot continue building and training men and women. The Shenkar have the edge with cloning that we cannot compete with. Our only option is to gamble on the information this Cryta provided.
January 10th, 2014 4:14 pm
EDF Kraken, Terran system, high Earth orbit
A beep from Liam’s headset paused the conversation he had been having with Shizta. Reaching up, he tapped the button on the earpiece to open the link.
“Yes?”
Shizta watched him for a few moments as Liam listened to what the other person was saying until finally Liam spoke.
“Excellent, you can bring it in now.”
Liam smiled as he lowered his hand back down to rest upon the table before him that divided him and Shizta.
“Bring it in?” Shizta queried.
“Yes, do you remember one of our conversations we had recently regarding cuisine upon our worlds? Well, after learning that our physiology was so close, I inquired if there would be any foods that could possibly be dangerous for you to eat. I was happy to learn that you can pretty much eat anything so I have arranged for you to try one of my favorite dishes.”
At that moment the cell door behind Liam open and two men entered carrying two large covered trays. Setting a tray before each of them they then retreated from the cell.
Liam didn’t move to uncover his tray but instead gestured for Shizta to do so. Lifting the cover off his tray, Shizta looked at what was underneath. There was a several bowls of various sizes arranged about the tray. A medium sized bowl in the upper left corner of the tray was empty and a small bowl in the upper right corner held a cloudy greasy liquid. The most interesting bowl was the large one in the center of the tray. In it was what Shizta could only describe as some sort of spiny insects. There were four of them, bright red and roughly the length of Shizta’s forearm. Each had long antennae with two large pincers followed by eight small pincer legs with a tail that measured the same length as its body.
“You eat insects?”
Liam laughed as he removed his own trays cover to reveal his tray held the same items.
“They are not insects but crustaceans from our oceans…namely the Atlantic ocean. These little creatures are known as lobsters, they are found off the northeast corner of the country known as the United States. The small bowl with the yellow substance is melted butter. You dip pieces of the lobster in it.”
Shizta grabbed one of the front pincers and tore it free of the body. While it was rather hot, he didn’t drop it. As he reached to dip the pincer in the butter Liam spoke.
“Wait, I didn’t clarify, you need to remove the shell first.”
To demonstrate Liam pulled off a pincer from his own lobster then began to break the shell and remove the meaty contents. The meat looked to be slightly stringy in nature.
Each time Liam pulled a piece of meat from the shell; he didn’t eat it, instead, he dropped it into the bowl of butter. Only when he had completely shelled the pincer and the appendage that it had been attached to, did he then pick up a utensil and stabbed one of the pieces that had been soaking in the butter. Putting the meat into his mouth, he chewed slowly looking as if he was savoring every second.
Shizta broke the shell apart, copying what Liam had done, until he too had completed his task. Picking up a utensil he stabbed one of the floating pieces of lobster. The taste was not what Shizta had expected. In truth he hadn’t known what to expect but the flavor exploded within his mouth. As he slowly chewed the lobster, he too savored the taste. It was like nothing he had ever tasted and for the first time since he had been captured, actually for the first time in a long time, he genuinely smiled.
“Good huh?” Liam asked.
“Yes, this is excellent.”
They spent the next couple of hours eating the lobster and talking. He was also introduced to a drink Liam referred to as beer or how he liked to call it…“Nectar of the gods”. Whatever it was called, Shizta rather enjoyed it as well.
Most of the evening conversation had been nothing of serious importance but more of Liam telling Shizta of humans. The hope of showing that humans were so much more that what Shizta perceived them to be. They also spoke of the Shenkar and the civilian populace, both races trying to make the other understand the nature of each other. At one point the conversation lulled and something occurred to Liam.
“Krailsha wasn’t an elite, was he?”
The question seemed to have taken Shizta off guard and it took him a moment to respond.
“Yes, you would be correct in this, why do you ask?”
“Were you aware I was the one who killed Krailsha?”
Shizta didn’t answer immediately but instead took a long sip from his beer, finally, he set the bottle down and spoke.
“I wasn’t one hundred percent sure but I suspected you did, it would have taken someone of great skill to defeat him in hand to hand combat.”
“If he was a clone, and not an elite, then what made him so skilled in combat and tactics? I was led to believe clones did not possess the knowledge or skills.”
“Under most circumstances you would be correct but on occasion some clones rise above their limits. Krailsha was one of those particular cases. He was probably the strongest most skilled clone ever made. Several elites could have beaten him but not all.”
After several hours, and several beers later, Liam stood and bid Shizta a goodnight. Shizta didn’t move but instead just watched the door for a while. He found himself wishing the night hadn’t ended as he had been enjoying himself. This disturbed him as he eyed the beer in his hand, wondering if he had been drugged. This, he quickly dismissed, knowing this notion would not to be the case.
So here he sat again, after another of several meetings, finding himself doubting what he had been told of these humans. Sure, Liam could be playing some sort of game of deceit, but he had a feeling deep down in his gut that said that was not the case. What he did know is he genuinely liked Liam and could see what Liam had meant when he said while the humans were capable of war they were also capable of so much more. Could these humans be the answer to saving the Shenkar from its Shelecore like Cryta had said? Liam also made him aware of the person he wanted to be more like, making him aware of just how cowardly he had been up until now. He found himself wanting to believe in these humans and wanting to help. Yet at the same time he had his lifetime of indoctrination of Shenkar law.
Shizta sighed as he knew this would be yet another troubled night of sleep.
January 14th, 2014 12:33pm
EDF Kraken, Terran system, high Earth orbit
Liam, cycled down his fighter’s systems, thought about the meetings he had been having with Shizta over the past few days. He had felt he had really gained some sort of bond with Shizta that might prove worthy. Shizta had begun to open more of issues within the Shenkar Federation that he did not agree with. He also believed this was not an act and that Shizta was being honest with him.
Today was another day he was scheduled to meet with Shizta and Liam had to admit, he was looking forward to it.
As Liam climbed down from his fighter he was met by a flustered Warrant officer. Pausing long enough to salute Liam he then began speaking quickly.
“Commander, I have been supervising the unloading of equipment for the coming mission and I came across some rather odd items.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it seems one particular squad had requisitioned three times the normal amount of weapons and explosives. There were also a couple items that really do not fit for what they were requesting them for. When I explained they were not authorized to take everything I was then threatened with bodily harm.”
“Bodily harm?”
“Specifically, I would get to see what I ate for lunc
h firsthand by having my head stuffed up my…..”
Liam, held up a hand, cutting off the officer before he could finish.
“Yes, I get your point, take me to this squad.”
The flustered officer led Liam to a bay where several shuttles were berthed. His suspicions of the guilty individuals were confirmed upon entering the hanger bay. The troubled men and women he had put together to become an elite group of Praetorians were moving in and out of one of the shuttles. Another flustered middle aged non comm was shifting between the men and women making his best effort to stop the unloading of the shuttle. However, anytime he would manage to get anything back into the shuttle it would quickly be removed again…..it was a losing battle yet the man never gave up.
Liam had managed to close the entire distance to stand next to the unloaded equipment before Eddie Graniar, one of the squad members, noticed Liam and snapped to attention.
“Attention, officer on the deck!”
At this, the Warrant officer gave Liam an exasperated look, clearly annoyed at not being acknowledged as being a superior officer.
Liam waited until the men and woman assembled before him before he spoke.
“I have been informed there has been some disagreement regarding the requisition of equipment.”
At this point the Warrant officer hurried forward to hand Liam his datapad.
“You will the items in question have been highlighted. I think if you study them you will see my point.”
Taking the datapad, Liam studied it before he looked up at his assembled team.
“Robinson, it says you requested the Em-5 energy cannon as your personnel weapon?”
“Yes, sir, that is correct.”
“That is not possible, the EM-5 energy cannon is designed as a stationary weapon set upon a tripod with its accompanying power generator….the complete system weighs one hundred and eighty four pounds!” interrupted the officer.
Liam held up a hand to silence the officer before he turned back to Sergeant Robinson.
“I am sure you are aware of the weight, so could you explain how you plan to effectively wield this weapon in combat?”
James removed what looked like a harness from a pocket and walked over to the power generator. The generator was roughly two and half feet long by one and half feet wide.
Kneeling down he secured the harness in various areas. James, then picked up the generator, secured the harness over his shoulders, which in turn secured the generator in place on his back. James then removed another strap from another pocket, secured it to a point midway along the cannon, then ran it up and around the back of his neck to come back down to secure to the back end of the cannon.
Once all the straps were secure, James stood up, easily hefting the cannon in his hands. Casually, he walked over to stand roughly twenty feet from a pile of empty crates. In one smooth motion James leveled the cannon at the boxes and depressed the trigger. Swinging the cannon side to side he quickly obliterated the piles of crates. Once completed James turned back to Liam.
“Not a problem sir, would you care for another demonstration?” James asked as he leveled the cannon onto the Warrant officer.
“No, I would say that was an effective demonstration.”
Smiling, Liam turned back to the now sick-looking officer.
“I do not see the issue with Sergeant Robinson’s choice of weapons. Shall we agree on this?”
The officer quickly glanced towards the cannon once more before nodding his head.
“Ok, so now let us look at the next item you have highlighted.”
The Warrant officer took this opportunity to study the datapad as he collected himself before he spoke again.
“Well, there is a request for four sniper rifles yet there are only two snipers in the squad.”
Liam looked at the datapad then looked up to spot his two snipers.
“Dewitt, Henderson, please clarify for the Warrant officer the reason for your request.”
Henderson looked at Dewitt before he stepped forward and spoke.
“Sir, if the Warrant officer will take a closer look he will see that we requested two different rifles each. One is the Barrett M82A1 and the other is one of the new M93 energy rifles. Do I need to explain any further?”
“I am pretty sure I know your reasoning but for the Warrant officer’s sake, please explain.”
Henderson turned to face the Warrant officer.
“As you can clearly see, one weapon is a kinetic weapon and the other is an energy weapon. Our mission will take into combat situations that none of us will have been in before. Dewitt and I felt we would be better prepared if we had both a kinetic weapon as well as an energy weapon. We figure our targets might on occasion have protection from one form of attack but possibly not both types. We like to have better odds at eliminating or targets.”
The Warrant officer just stared at Henderson for a few moments before he just shook his head.
“Okay, I guess I can accept that.”
Liam waited for Henderson to rejoin is squad before speaking.
“Is there anything else or can I let my men and woman continue unloading the equipment?”
Now, looking slightly defeated, the officer once again examined his datapad. Finding what he was looking for he puffed out his chest and thrust the datapad forward.
“Yes, if you look at line twenty through thirty one you will see a requisition for an exorbitant amount of explosives.”
Sighing, Liam took the datapad once again, quickly looked at it before turning back to his squad.
“Reuban, Graniar, would you care to explain the reason for requisitioning so much explosive materials?”
Graniar didn’t even exchange looks with Reuban but instead stepped forward.
“Well sir, the thing is, we like to blow shit up.”
Then the jolt of what he said hit him and he quickly continued on.
“We figured we will be taking the fight to the Shenkar and didn’t want to run out of explosives. It is better to be safe than sorry.”
“I can accept that,” Liam stated.
“But sir, the amount of explosives is beyond….” began the officer but Liam cut him off.
“Will you be accompanying us on this mission?”
“Well….I do not see how that matters…” stammered the Warrant officer.
“Just answer the question,” demanded Liam.
“Well, no I won’t be. I am just supervising the transferring of equipment and supplies.”
“Then I suggest you keep your opinion to yourself. I would prefer to have a little extra boom along in the event we need it. Do you understand me?”
Before the Warrant officer could answer, Liam heard Anthony Caprenni whisper to someone.
“Is it really wise to upset the most powerful Templar knight? I mean, can’t he just like mentally pick him up and chuck him out the nearest airlock?”
The officer must have heard the whisper because at this point his face took on a sort of sickly green hue.
“Umm…Yes sir, I was only trying to be thorough. If it is okay with you I will just leave your men and woman to the unloading. I think we can just forget about the rest I have highlighted.”
With that, the Warrant officer saluted Liam and quickly retreated to another section of the hanger bay. The non comm, who had been trying to stop the unloading when Liam had arrived, now began to help the unloading of the shuttle.
“You really do have a way with people, don’t you?”
Liam turned to see Steve standing next to him.
“I mean, did you see how quickly that guy ran away? You would think you threatened to throw him out an airlock or something. What did you say to him anyway?”
“Nothing, is there something I can help you with?”
Steve looked at the Warrant officer skeptically for a few moments before turning to Liam. Steve hesitated, as he seemed to be trying to look for the right words.
“Uh…yeah, I was sent for you.
It seems your friend Dr. Johansin has taken a turn for the worse. I am sorry, but they don’t expect him to survive much longer.”
Liam’s chest tightened at hearing the news. His feelings for the man had grown from mutual respect to viewing him as a father figure.
Liam took off a jog as he weaved his way through the passageways to the hanger bay where his fighter was. Without even thinking, Liam vaulted up ten feet from the deck to land inside his cockpit. Several members of the crew stopped what they were doing to just stare at what Liam had just done but Liam didn’t care. Normally, Liam would stare down anyone until they looked away but now he only had one concern on his mind. Donning his headset he keyed opened the channel and spoke.
“Flight control, this is Necro one requesting clearance for takeoff.”
Not waiting for a response, Liam immediately began cycling up the fighters engines. The whine of the engines immediately sent men and women retreating to a safe distance. His maneuvering thrusters had already ignited before flight control responded.
“Necro one, this is flight control, you have clearance for takeoff.”
Liam maneuvered his fighter into place and ignited his afterburners. As his fighter shot forward into open space all Liam could think was he prayed he wouldn’t be too late.
January 14th, 2014 1:43pm
Olympus Base, Hospital
Liam burst through the door to Milton’s room, startling the doctor and nurse that were present. Liam moved forward to stand beside the bed. To look at Milton in his current condition was heartwrenching. It was clear by his wasted appearance that it would be unlikely he would survive much longer.
“How long?” Liam asked softly.
“He is not likely to make it through the night. I am sorry, commander, I know you two are close,” said the doctor.