“Think about it, Dusty. There is no way in any universe that Master Kellyn would condone this, nor allow Grandmaster Vydor to do it. Always hold fast to what you know of a person’s character,” she sent back.
“That is different,” said Spectra. “Sorcerers are a specific group of magi that have declared war on the Wizards. That is a normal response when any nation state declares war on another. What you’re talking about is racial purging – that is not anything we, or our leadership, would ever condone.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that Grandmaster Vydor or the others were directly involved, but I am saying they were bred by those that are and by their very nature are part of the movement,” he said. “Think about it for a moment – for a universe that has so much variety, why is it that humans make up the vast majority of the population?”
“Because we are all descended from a common stock of humans,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
I explained to him what Shea had told us about the history of the races. “So there are so many humans because we half-breeds were selective creations to solve niche problems.”
He sat back and thought about that for a bit. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Assuming all that to be true, that finally explains why I am different from the rest of my race,” he said.
“Yes,” said Spectra. “Your ancestors must have used genetic data from the Shadow People to survive in the vacuum of space.”
“Interesting. I will have to think about that, but it only supports what I have been trying to tell you. Think about it: every species group was forbidden to intermarry with every other one. Right? To this day, you two are the only interspecies marriage that I know of – and since you’re both magi, that is not really an interspecies marriage as your people view it.”
I stood and paced a little, tryig to think through the implications. “If what you are saying is true, then whoever created the virus is definitely out there and will definitely try again.”
“Yes, that is the logical conclusion and, after all, didn’t Grandmaster Vydor and the other Imperial humans send you out here thinking that very thing?”
“What are you getting at?” I asked.
“Well, they might not be directly involved, but because of their breeding they would think in the same way. In other words, it would be natural for them to assume there is an active threat.”
“Let’s accept that to be true for the moment. Where does that leave us?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, exactly where you were before I came aboard. I have no hard information, just hearsay and rumor that I believe to be justified,” he said.
“Masters, I am sorry to interrupt, but a small group of vessels has just jumped in,” said Nemesis.
“Keep us hidden,” I ordered. “Everyone to their stations. Greymere, if you don’t mind, please join me on the bridge.”
“Certainly,” he responded.
We quickly made our way to the bridge and I had Jade, Kymberly and Saraphym take the active stations again. “What do you make of the situation?”
“Master, if I had to guess, this is a bait fleet. They are moving as if to check out the wreck we left behind,” said Jade.
‘Surely these pirates would not be stupid enough to take the bait?” I asked.
“Yes, I think they will. Remember, they have no way to know that you contacted the station. As far as they know they merely chose too tough a target when they hit you, and this one looks much softer,” said Greymere.
“I agree. The only reason we are even assuming it is a bait fleet is because we know that the hospital put the word out,” said Spectra.
I started to ask a question but was cut off by the sound of the tactical alarms. The same pirate fleet that had tried to ambush us jumped in, and this time they had even larger numbers. “Hold here and let’s see what happens.”
The smaller fleet began to align for a jump back to the hospital as the larger fleet launched drones and began to open fire. That would be the last time they made that move, as a massive trade fleet bearing the markings of Resden Consortium jumped in and surrounded the attacking pirates.
“Pull back to a thousand kilometers out, but keep us hidden,” I said as the two fleets engaged.
“Unlucky day for those pirates. Resden will easily crush them and enslave any survivors,” said Greymere.
“Hard to imagine that less than a century ago this was a peaceful and safe region,” I said.
“Given the level of violence out here now, it’s harder to imagine that time of safety ever coming back,” said Greymere.
“Are we clear enough of the gravity wake to jump?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Jade.
“Then head back to Hospital Station,” I said. Now that Resden was dealing with the pirates, I had no desire to engage in battle. We would lose our cloak just as we jumped, but it would only be for an instant, not long enough to matter.
After we cleared jump space, I turned to ask Greymere a question but then remembered that, being a mundane, he would have to deal with the post-jump hangover. It seemed that being a native of the hard vacuum of space did not make him immune to it any more than any other mundane.
He shook his head to clear it and asked, “How do you recover so fast?”
“We don’t,” I said. “Your people live in the vacuum of space and can move freely through it. In the same way, magi are part of the weave, or what you call jump space, and can move freely through that.”
“I traveled recently with some magi, and they struggled with the jump space hangover just like any other person.”
“They were probably inexperienced, or at least not properly trained. It is like learning to walk: your body is engineered to do it, but you have to learn how. Once you have learned it, it becomes second nature and you don’t even think about it anymore.”
“Interesting,” he said. He looked around the bridge as if he were trying to assess something. Then he said, “You know, most magi out here are imprisoned or pressed into service. You may meet with some resistance.”
Spectra chuckled. “I think you forget we are wizards.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Jealousy and fear fuels hatred, so most mundanes hate us. Nowadays, only our trained warriors travel outside the safety of our kingdom,” she said.
I stood from my command chair. “Jade, take command and dock at the station. We will require the same internal bay that we left from, so that our engineers can do a thorough check. I fully expect their report to state that everything worked as designed, which will mean we can proceed with our mission.”
As Jade took over, I said, “Greymere, do you want to jump ship before we dock or are you going to stay on with us for a while?”
“I would like to stay a while with you and leave it until later to make a full commitment. Is that okay?” he said.
“Certainly,” I said. “When we dock we will be meeting with some of the senior members of the hospital, and I would like you to brief them on your theory, if you don’t mind,”
“Sure, but how will I explain my knowledge without revealing what I am?” he asked.
I smiled. “You are among wizards now, and as a member of my team your experience will not be questioned. I should warn you that when we meet Shea, she will know you’re not human right away. Some others will see right through your human disguise also. I will tell Shea the whole story, but don’t worry; you won’t find a more solid or trustworthy person in any universe than Shea.”
“That is fine. I feel that my days of pretending to be human are coming to an end. I just hope what comes next will be better,” he said.
Chapter Thirteen
Once we had docked, Shea came in to greet us. “So nothing was going to happen? It was just a quick out and back?” she commented with a grin.
I just smiled and said, “Shea, th
is is Greymere. He is the only survivor of the fleet that was ambushed.”
“Pleased to meet you,” he said with a smile.
Behind him Saraphym seemed to be closely watching the exchange with Shea, and I could not see why. My years in black ops had taught me to observe and note such things, but I had not previously thought Saraphym would see Shea as a threat in any way.
“I am sure the honor is mine,” she said with a curtsy and glanced my way.
“Something wrong, Shea?” I sent. I knew she wanted to talk but, as she had not been born in our realm, she did not have the gift of telepathy possessed by all magi here. A magus could still talk with her telepathically but had to initiate the conversation, as she could not.
“I haven’t seen his race before. He is disguising himself as one of the forest folk, but he is not of that race,” she replied.
I chuckled and turned to Greymere. “She nailed you,” I told him and said to Shea, “He is from a race that we don’t have out our way. I will fill you in as we walk, and I would like us to meet with Doctor Leslie and Doctor Hawthorne to discuss what we have learned.”
“Certainly,” she said.
“Wait, Greymere,” called out Saraphym. “After your meeting, maybe we could have dinner together?”
He looked into her eyes and winked. “Sure. I bet the hospital cafeteria is wonderful.”
“I guess that explains her watching him,” I sent to Spectra.
“You’re just now figuring that out? She had eyes for him the moment he walked onto the ship. I swear all you men are blind,” she sent back.
As we walked I telepathically updated Shea on all we knew about Greymere. “I have promised him that he would be welcome in the Wizard Kingdom and asked if he could help us out as a friendly local source of information. He has agreed on a temporary basis, but he does not trust us yet.”
“I should think not; he has spent his whole life hiding. Well, you are doing the right thing, Dusty. I will tell the Council of your decision and make sure all our databases are updated with the correct information about his race,” she sent back and then she said, “Greymere, if you do not mind I would like to give you a physical so that we can have an accurate medical profile for you. Perhaps in the morning?”
He was quiet for a bit and then said, “I have never allowed an accurate medical record to be taken. It is too dangerous for me.”
Shea turned to him, placed her hand on his arm and said in her soothing voice, “Greymere, I am a priestess of Light. You have nothing to fear from me. You will be traveling on an active warship and we have no medical baselines for you, which we will need if you are injured.”
“Besides,” I said. “You don’t have to hide anymore. I am serious about my offer: full citizenship with all the rights and protections of anyone else in our kingdom.”
He was quiet as we resumed walking and did not answer before we reached Doctor Hawthorne’s office. Once we were inside, I introduced everyone and then asked Greymere to inform everyone of what he told us.
When he had complied he said, “Now, I have no proof of all that, but there is a substantial amount of circumstantial evidence that seems to point that way.”
“I can confirm part of the story,” said Shea. “A few years ago, Doctor Rannor and I recognized that there was careful genetic breeding of what we have taken to calling the ‘officer class of humans’. Someone was definitely orchestrating the marriages and promotions of specific human families.”
“How?” I asked.
“It is easier than you might think,” said Shea. “If you know who you want to breed with whom and you have full control over their assignments, you can make sure that they are primarily exposed to those families you want them to interbreed with. Think about it this way: Grandmaster Vydor was promoted up to command more rapidly than usual. Once in command, he would have mixed only with other officers for most of his days and nights, and the majority of these were men. He would have been exposed to only a handful of women. All that was necessary was to make sure the pool of women available to him consisted of suitable mates.”
“Surely that could not work. He must have gone to bars or other places that were not controlled so tightly,” said Doctor Hawthorne.
“Doctor, whom do you spend most of your time with?” asked Shea.
He paused, and replied, “I suppose the friends I met through my job, school, or where I grew up.”
“Exactly, all of which could be controlled. Sure, occasionally some might mix with the ‘wrong’ families, but overall the plan appears to have worked extremely well,” she said.
“And you were able to confirm this via DNA evidence?” asked Greymere.
“As much as possible. Doctor Rannor was unhappy to realize that he was part of the breeding program so he did his best to prove it wrong, but in the end it looked undeniable,” she said.
“Is this program still going on now?” I asked.
“I am sure it is, but I would assume its effectiveness to be reduced. Considering the number of generations this appears to have encompassed, I suspect that whoever is running the program is still well-entrenched into the highest positions in the galaxy,” she said.
“Imperial Humans,” said Greymere.
“What?” I asked.
“Imperial Humans: that is what they called their race. Just as Grandmaster Vydor sees magi as a separate race, they see their genetic line as unique and more than human.”
“What does Grandmaster Vydor think of this?” asked Spectra.
“Grandmaster brushed it off as a failing of the old Empire and not something to concern himself with anymore,” answered Shea.
“Of course not. He has his own master race to build now,” said Greymere.
I was about to deny that when Shea said, “I suppose in a sense that is true.”
“But where does that leave us?” asked Spectra.
“Well, what are the actual facts we have?” asked Doctor Hawthorne.
“Someone is trying to genetically engineer a superhuman race,” started Doctor Leslie. “But why would they kill off the Cathratinairians? I don’t see how that helps them. Every super race needs slaves to serve it, after all?”
“Maybe they saw the Cathratinairians as a threat?” I asked.
“Could be, but I would think the biggest threat would be the Zalionians,” said Greymere.
“And, where is the oringal Cathratinairian home world now?” asked Spectra.
“In the Zalionian Empire,” I said.
“Are you suggesting that the Cathratinairians might not have been the ultimate target?” asked Greymere.
“It would take a mastermind with a lot of patience to pull that off, but maybe. Anyway, we must visit that planet and check things out,” said Spectra.
“It would take the better part of a year to get there,” started Greymere.
“No, we can get there much faster than that,” said Spectra.
“Before we do that, we’d better check with Grandmaster Vydor. Showing up uninvited to a secure military base might not be looked upon favorably,” I said.
“What if he says no?” Spectra sent privately.
“But I thought conditions for life on that planet were wiped out by weapons testing?” asked Doctor Leslie.
“He won’t. He will understand that we are following up on clues – he used to work in intelligence, remember?” I sent back privately.
“I suspect Spectra is not going to be looking for the living,” said Shea. “I don’t know if there will be anything left to investigate after all this time, but it is worth a shot.”
“But, what if he says no?” Spectra sent privately.
“What are you getting at?” I sent back.
“But how are you going to get there?” asked Greymere.
“You are among magi, Greymere,” answered Spectra. “I can open a gate to anywhere I have placed a marker, and I placed one there when I visited it a long time a
go. It really will be just a short walk.”
“You will have to go via the Spirit Realm, I assume?” asked Shea.
“Yeah, so it will just be me and Dusty. The rest of my team is not ready for that, yet,” she answered. Then she sent back to me privately, “I am thinking it might be best to go unseen and get back before anyone knows we went.”
“I don’t think that is a good idea,” I sent back.
“What can I do?” asked Greymere.
“You used to be in intelligence, didn’t you?” asked Spectra. “Well, then you could go through all the data we have and see if we’ve missed anything. A fresh set of eyes with quite a different background might discover new connections in the data.”
“Are you taking me up on the offer, then? Are you going to join our team and kingdom?” I asked.
“Why not?” Spectra asked me, continuing our private conversation.
“Because it could damage the relationship between our people, and that is a risk I am not willing to take,” I sent.
“You said I would not have to hide my race anymore. Is that offer open to all of my kind?” Greymere asked.
“All who are of the same race as you? Sure, but it would be better if we had a name for your race,” said Shea.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Shea smiled and said, “We do not call Dusty’s race after the fish that was used to create his race long ago. It has a new name because it is not the same race. The same is true of your people; you are not the same race as the animals you are partially descended from. If you let me do that medical examination, we will build a DNA profile for your race and name it. From that point forward you, and any of your race that we come across, will be treated the same as any other sentient beings we come across, and that includes opening immigration to our kingdom for your race.”
“Wow,” he said softly. “No more hiding? For any of us?”
“Yes, you can stop hiding,” she said gently.
Everyone was quiet while he processed that. It was impossible to know what Doctor Leslie and Doctor Hawthorne were thinking since they didn’t know what was going on, but they seemed to understand that something major had occurred in Greymere’s life.
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