Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron

by Ben Winston

  Lissa and Sam let the women precede them into the ship, and Lissa stunned them as soon as they were inside. All four women hit the floor, unconscious.

  Sam picked up Jarla first and carried her into the common area where he removed her armor and put her into the autodoc to scan her body for suicide devices. The machine found two; one was a poison capsule in her mouth, the other was a remote kill device implanted in her chest. The woman was also suffering from radiation exposure. Lissa had the machine remove both devices but held off the treatment for radiation as it was not life threatening at the moment. Sam put her in restraints and placed her on a bunk. Then he carried the next women in. This time, Lissa took her armor off while Sam went for another woman. By the time the last woman was in the autodoc, Jarla was beginning to come around. All of them had the suicide devices and all of them had radiation sickness.

  "What… what's going on? What happened?" she asked, fearfully.

  Sam smiled at her sadly. "You're being sequestered for the time being my dear. Your grandmother recognized you."

  "My Grandmother? I don't have a grandmother, Sam. They all died years ago," Jarla replied.

  "Commander Serena is alive and well, Jarla. She would like to speak to you," Lissa replied gently.

  "No! She's dead! I saw her ship destroyed!" Jarla replied with tears in her eyes. "She died trying to protect us."

  "Shut up you stupid slag!" Laorna said angrily. "What have you done to us?"

  "We ran all of you through the autodoc and removed the kill devices you had implanted. We have some questions we'd like for you to answer," Lissa replied neutrally.

  "Damn, I told you slags it was too dangerous to meet up," Laorna said. "Now we're really shafted."

  "Not really," A new voice spoke from the door. "But if you don't answer our questions you will be, and not in a good way either."

  The women all turned to look at the new man. He was young and handsome and they recognized him immediately without needing to see the Admiral's rank on his armor.

  "Sam, can you and Lissa take them up to the ship and come back? As much as I would like to be present for their questioning, I need to finish this tour. I'll let Major Eischens know he has guests on the way so he can make the appropriate accommodations for them," Ian said.

  Sam nodded, but Lissa answered. "Of course Sir, we can handle this."

  "Okay, Lissa, take Sam into the cockpit and seal the door. I need to tell these ladies something I don't want either of you to hear. I'll let you know when you can return," Ian ordered.

  Lissa and Sam stepped through the hatch into the cockpit and closed the door, leaving Ian alone with the four women.

  "Listen closely, because your lives depend on it." Ian said getting their attention. When they were all looking at him, he used his ability on them. "For the next week - ship time, you will answer any and all questions asked of you truthfully and as completely as you can. You will not try to escape, kill yourselves or each other, or cause trouble for those guarding you. You will obey the orders of your guards and those sent to ask you questions. Do you understand my instructions to you?"

  All four women nodded. Ian nodded back to them and knocked on the hatch Sam and Lissa had used. When it opened, Ian smiled at them. "Take them up to the ship, but try to keep it quiet. I'll tell Eischens the same thing; but use only Terran Marines as guards. We don't know who else might have been planted with the Talosian Marines."

  "Sir, to that end, might I suggest we also keep them in the isolation cells? These are high risk prisoners," Sam suggested.

  Ian nodded. "Major Eischens will take charge of them from you. He'll make the arrangements. Have a safe and quiet trip." Ian said and turned to leave. He stopped at the hatch and turned back to the four women. "One thing before I leave; is there anyone else in your unit that works for the Empire?"

  "Lieutenant Boughow gives us our orders, there are a couple of others in other units but I don't know who they are," Laorna replied through gritted teeth.

  Ian nodded. "Thank you.” Ian turned back to Sam and Lissa. "Hold here until we can add the Lieutenant. I'll have Jerry and Shannon go get her." He paused and looked at Jarla. "Citizen Jarla, it is my happy duty to inform you that your grandmother, Commander Serena, is alive and well. She has asked to see you after your initial interrogation."

  As Ian turned and left, Sam turned and looked at the former sergeant closely. She had obviously tried not to tell the Admiral what he wanted to know, but it was like she couldn't stop. The other two women looked scared and Jarla was crying.

  "Whatever the Admiral told you must have been pretty convincing. I would suggest you continue being as forthcoming with your interrogators when we get to the ship. If you do, you might just survive this ordeal," Sam finished. "It is my duty to inform you that as a condition of your incarceration, anything you say or do is being recorded. After your interrogation, an independent advocate will be appointed to you if charges are leveled against you as a result of your information. Since this case involves Alliance security, there is the possibility you may be remanded over into Alliance custody. If that is to occur, and in accordance with Alliance law, you will be assigned an Alliance Advocate prior to your extradition." Sam continued to explain their rights to them as required by law and Raptor Command mandate.

  Before the now former lieutenant joined the four women, Ian gave him the same commands he had given the women. Shannon had lured the lieutenant to the landing area under the ruse of one of the girls getting hurt while helping her teammates. When they arrived at the landing area, the Lieutenant had become suspicious and Shannon had stunned him. The action was seen, but caused only a little commotion. Very shortly, the Raptor lifted off with its prisoners.

  Ian and his party finished the tour of the camps and returned to their ships. Ian had told T'rolith about the sabotage and the prisoners taken. By the time they returned to their ships, Major Eischens had completed all but one of the initial interviews.

  As it turned out, the saboteur had died in the explosion. However, the woman had been one of Laorna's troopers. The Lieutenant had given her the device and sent her to place it. The rest of the squad had gone with her, but had been able to get far enough away to survive the blast. The four women were being treated for radiation poisoning in the detention center Medbay under heavy guard.

  In preparation for handing planetary control over to civilian authority, Ian formally dismissed Admiral T'rolith and his fleet, with gratitude. One Alliance battle cruiser would be remaining as a guard for the planet, as well as a Talosian Marine battalion. The Alliance ship would be relieved as soon as the Talosians could send a ship of their own to do so. Admiral T'rolith was invited to the dinner Ian was having as a matter of protocol. To the Alliance, it was a necessary function to have a 'victory dinner' after a major battle.

  The dinner went well and the Alliance contingent departed after a short tour of the newly rebuilt Star Dancer. The Alliance fleet departed that night for High Command and a new assignment.

  Commander Serena was reunited with her granddaughter. As it turned out, Jarla had been seriously messed with. The Empire had used drugs and mental conditioning to program the women to become human spies. Jarla and two of the other women would be deprogrammed, but it was found that the former sergeant, Laorna had taken a much higher dose of radiation. Although the doctors on the ship were doing everything they could for the woman, she had gone too long without treatment; too much damage had been done. Unlike current citizens of the Talosian Alliance, her body had not been scanned and the information stored prior to her exposure. There were no health records of her to base replicated or cloned organs on. The radiation sickness guaranteed she would reject any universal transplants.

  It was late in the evening when Ian finally got to make the call he'd been waiting to make. Alex smiled and made the connection for him.

  Two people took form in the chairs at the conference table.

  "Ian! It's damn good to hear from you! We were gettin
g worried," Admiral Goya said.

  Councilor Noren smiled and nodded. "We really were getting worried. I think if you had not ordered a comms blackout, we would have been calling you every day!"

  Ian grinned back at his friends. "Obviously, I've lifted the comms restrictions!" He sat up straighter and cleared his throat. "Councilor Noren, Fleet Admiral Goya, it is my great honor and privilege to report to you the successful recapture of the Planet Hyperion." He lost his smile. "Unfortunately, it was not bloodless. During the fighting, a previously unheard of unit arrived at the planet. "ARC records have never seen this unit, nor any of its type before. They were not part of the Imperial military. Intelligence believes they were religious troops. They were brutal in the extreme. Thanks to the assistance of a saboteur, they managed to seize control of the Starlight power control computer and detonated the city's main reactor.

  Ian paused and looked down. "Our estimates place the losses at Starlight at over two-hundred-fifty thousand."

  Noren was shocked and had tears in her eyes. Goya looked grim.

  Ian nodded. "I am very sorry, we did everything we could to prevent it, but in the end, it hadn't been enough. I will send you a copy of my report so you can read the details of the event.

  "Our forces will depart this system in the morning and turn control back over to your representative currently with the planetary aide ships standing at the system boundary."

  "Ian, Starlight held a population close to six-hundred thousand. What happened to the rest of the people?" Noren asked.

  "Evacuated, mostly. Also, our sensors placed the pre-attack population of the city at just under five-hundred thousand. The computer records show that a lot of people had been reassigned to different jobs and moved around all over the planet. Those records are really messed up; instead of just listing who, what, and where, the Empire used accounting codes to track the movements. We've been having to figure out what each of the codes mean in order to find the people. I can tell you that the rural population of the planet is much higher than what it was before the Empire captured it."

  Ian paused again. "They were up to something here. The detonation of the reactor at Starlight was done to cover whatever it is they were hiding. Those weird religious troops were focused on getting to Starlight and destroying a certain freighter that had been housed there.

  "In all honesty, I don't know if we'll ever figure out what it was, but we do know it was medical in nature. Our doctors and medical research folks are going over every scrap of data they could find or acquire while on planet. About all we know right now is that it has something to do with spinal fluid.

  "In any case, it is my honor to inform you of the return of your colony world," Ian finished. "Belarus suggested I refuse to release it back to you unless you agreed to reassign the colony to House Cronos. That way, at least we'll know the people would be taken care of."

  Noren chuckled. "Ian, even though you are not a part of the Talosian Alliance, you are still considered a son of House Cronos. With everything you and your people have done for us in the past few months, and the trouble that was caused by the real rebels, the High Council was already considering that. So if you did request it, it would probably happen.

  "However, Houses Heracin and Bjorin are all but destroyed politically. This whole episode could actually cause them to be disbanded and the families assigned to new houses. I feel I should tell you, and Admiral Goya as well, that I've been working to keep that from happening."

  Goya looked a little concerned. "Why? Those two houses are your chief political rivals on the Council aren't they?"

  Noren nodded. "Yes they are, and that’s one of the main reasons they have to remain intact. In order for the Council to function properly, there has to be opposition among us. Without it, there would be no balance in the Council, and we would lose touch with the people and their needs. Such opposition forces us to seek the opinions of our people on decisions that would affect all of us. Any other way, and our system would quickly become nothing more than a dictatorship.

  "The other reasons is that our populations have grown to the point where we will need begin considering the addition of new houses. Several of the major houses are well above the legal limit for population size. So, instead of disbanding two houses and making the issue worse, we need to add at least two more houses," she finished. "My House will offer to sponsor the creation of House Gaia in honor of our Terran allies and all they have done for us.

  "So, if I may ask, Ian; don't make that request. As it is, Hyperion will most likely be assigned to another house anyway as we will need to do a minor restructuring to allow for the formation of the new houses."

  "So that's what's going on; I was beginning to wonder," Goya replied. "You don't know this yet Ian, but one of the first things the restored Council did was to reclassify our military facilities to prohibit 'private' ownership. In other words, the High Council has taken direct control over the shipyards, fighter assembly plants, and anything the produces military equipment. They will still be staffed and run by our citizens, but no single house will have control over them."

  Noren nodded. "We've already requested permission to send our designers and engineers to Sol Sector for retraining and to help us update our facilities. It's pretty much the same thing the rest of the Alliance of Races have done."

  Ian nodded. "Yeah, I think our population has grown way beyond control." He paused. "That's one of the things I wanted to tell you about. The atrocity at Starlight was the result of sabotage by human Imperial spies posing as Talosian Marines." When he saw the look on his friends' faces, he quickly continued. "This isn't your fault, and it couldn't have been easily prevented. In fact, I doubt we would have even caught them if Commander Serena hadn't recognized one of them."

  "Serena recognized someone?" Goya asked.

  Ian nodded. "One of the spies is her granddaughter, Jarla. Three of the women with her are from the same planet. Their controller, and one of the other women, are from two other Imperial occupied planets. They all got dosed with radiation in the explosion, but one of them will not survive for much longer. I'm expecting an extradition order from Alliance High Command since their crimes took place during an ARC mission."

  "Still, since they are our citizens, we should be involved in this case," Noren said. "This is truly horrible, and couldn't have happened at a worse time; we are just beginning to get back on good terms with the rest of the Alliance of Races."

  "With respect Noren, they are not Talosian citizens, they are Imperial citizens. Even by the laws of the Alliance of Races, there can be no other legal status for them. Until we retake their home planets, the population of a captured world is the legal citizen of that governmental entity. For example, until tomorrow morning, the Planet Hyperion is technically an ARC colony world," Ian replied. "By arresting those spies during the action, no argument for repatriation can be made because of their actions at the time."

  "They're human, they will still be seen as Talosian," Noren said.

  Ian shook his head. "No, I don't think so, Noren. ARC has been made very aware that there are non-Talosian humans. Besides, we have proven and verified extensive mental tampering has been done to all of the individuals. Currently, they do not see themselves as anything other than Imperial citizens. Ambassador M'orel has already requested Benesian Advocates be assigned them if extradition is called for. If it is not requested, then we will locate and assign Advocates for them ourselves." He paused and sighed. "I would be very surprised if they would be executed over this. As I said, they have been heavily manipulated. It is very clear to all of us that they cannot be held directly or solely responsible for their actions."

  "What will you do with them?" Noren asked.

  "Try to undo what was done to them. If we can return to them what was taken perhaps they can be reevaluated at that time. Until then, they will be sequestered and given treatment," Ian replied. "I'd have a hard time supporting a decision to execute any individuals under these conditions.
"

  "Well, I'm sure it's a moot point; ARC will request extradition, they will be tried, and executed quickly and as publicly as possible," Goya replied. "Imperial attacks on Alliance member races has created a strong desire for retaliation of some kind. I'm afraid this event will only feed that fire."

  Ian shook his head. "That is a fire that will burn the entire Alliance to the ground in very short order. I haven't spoken to High Command yet, so you probably know more than I do on that."

  Noren nodded. "Our Ambassador reported that, while it still hasn't been called for officially, the member races are discussing the use of gravimetrics on select targets within Imperial held space," she paused. "The feeling is that once we locate Imperial bases we fire hyper-missiles equipped with gravimetric warheads at them."

  "They have no idea what they're asking for. They all see the gravimetric warhead as nothing more than a really big bomb that explodes, and that's all. They don't understand the long term effects of using one of those," Goya replied.

  "We'll just have to show them when the time comes, Admiral. I think I'll see what I can do to get the AI we are building for them finished as soon as possible. It would do them good to be able to run large scale simulations of the damage such a thing would do," Ian replied.

  Noren winced. "That's another thing; some of the races are suspicious of your generosity. Races do not just openly share their military secrets with other races. Many of them believe you have ulterior motives."

  "Like what? Other than their friendship they really don't have anything we don't already have ourselves," Ian replied.

  "Control, Ian. They think you want to rule them," Noren replied.

  Ian just snorted and shook his head. "The same damn problem we're having with Earth. None of them can understand that we have no interest in ruling anyone. But, since that is what they'd do, they can't help but attribute us with the same motivations. If they would just stop and think about it, they'd see there is no way we'd be able to do that." He sighed. "I guess it can't be helped; the paranoid will always be paranoid no matter what. We'll just have to let the future prove them wrong."