by H. T. Kofruk
“But we’re just a few hours from having access to a communication wormhole. If we evacuate now, we won’t have the means to communicate with command for another month” came the answer.
“Listen lieutenant!” yelled Terry. “If you don’t make your call this time, they’ll send a reconnaissance party. There’s no time. Missiles may already have been launched.”
As soon as the last words exited his mouth, a single lone missile became visible over the horizon. It left a bright blue trace as it hurtled towards the surface. Beautiful, if it hadn’t been meant for death.
Terry grabbed the still dumbfounded Heera by the wrist and shoved her on to the vehicle.
“Where are we going?” she demanded.
“As far away as possible. The shockwave from that thing could kill us.”
He went full speed the other way and soon, the deafening sound of the explosion reached their ear drums a few seconds after the landscape became emblazoned in blue. He had to be quick. The aftershock could easily rip through their unarmoured bodies. Heera turned her head to see a giant blue semi sphere where the based used to be. The area around the blue was distorted from the shock. Terry also looked back with squinted eyes to verify the growing distortion. The land trembled uncontrollably and great shoals of earth erupted into the air. The vegetation was being thrown around and a few kilometres from their position, the river was evaporating from the intense heat.
His eyes scanned the landscape for possible shelter. He could feel the eruption of earth almost behind his neck. To the left he spotted a deep ravine lined with volcanic rock towards which he turned the vehicle. Heera looked behind her and saw the vast greenery turn into a giant wall of dark-brown earth that looked as if it would engulf her. They were now three miles from their original position, not yet in the safety zone.
When she turned her head back to the front, the glider was entering a v-shaped ravine, lined with black rock. Upon entrance, the world turned black.
Chapter 16: Leviathan
‘The loss of the Leviathan was a major setback for our cause. The prototype destroyer would have revolutionized space warfare and put the Orthodox Empire at a different footing vis-à-vis the other empires. But I can only blame the lack of military discipline, carelessness and disrespect for rules that permeates through our military. Perhaps it is a good thing we never found the ship.’ – Diary of Aleksei Romantsev, Chief Scientist at Kalashnikov Defence Lab.
It all seemed to be impossible. When he received the news, he didn’t know what to do. Ninety thousand years, according to Saj’ra, was the time necessary to reach Earth. Bin’ja laid eyes upon a map of the galaxy for the first time, the vast spiral mass of stars. His home was pinpointed on one edge while Earth lay at almost the exact opposite end. The sheer size of the Yinhexi overwhelmed him. At the speed of light, which was the fastest the ship could take them, it would reach an eternity to set eyes upon the planet from which the Renden swarm originated.
But a few weeks later, the wormhole creator was discovered. Apparently, this device enabled the Rendens to cheat distance and open a gateway to a part of the galaxy that would otherwise be unreachable. The trickery and cunningness the Rendens possessed was impressive, that he had to admit. The ship’s wormhole creator was, however, too weak to create a wormhole sufficiently large for the ship to enter. It was just for communication means so just a tiny one could be opened to send and receive electronic data.
Saj’ra, perhaps the most ‘Renden-like’ of the Nikruk aboard the ship, had delved deeply into the ship manuals and archives to find this information, since his reasoning had suggested that building a space empire with just light speed wasn’t plausible. Some of the other Nikruk disliked him just for being able to read their language with such ease and understand their logic. Disdain, jealousy, the new emotions were becoming more and more difficult to control due to Mother’s weakening.
Bin’ja was in the botanical area. The plant that had activated an allergic reaction had been identified and removed. He was free to enjoy Earth’s nature. He felt that he could meditate more easily surrounded by plants. The bio-engineered Nikruk were starting to feel Mother. Renden medicine could not block her out for long, for she was woven into the very fibre of their existence. Slowly but surely, Mother’s consciousness wriggled with life in their lifeless souls. He knew that the Renden plan could only fail in the long run.
Saj’ra entered and bowed. He didn’t want to bother the leader, especially since having given him the initial bad news about the distance. But a glimmer of hope still existed and it had to be let known. Bin’ja’s face looked tired but it still housed much more youth than the other elders. He straightened himself up and observed intently the leader’s face. Yes, it definitely looked younger than many of the others despite his being the one of the eldest. Bin’ruk was born at almost the same time as Bin’ja and yet looked even older than his years.
“You are wondering why I do not seem to age, Saj’ra?” he asked.
Saj’ra immediately lowered his eyes. He, like many of the other Nikruk, somehow felt a vast authority in Bin’ja that he could not explain.
Bin’ja continued. “I think that Mother may have endowed me with a longer life. Perhaps she has a purpose for me that cannot be accomplished in our regular lifespan.”
Saj’ra opened his eyes wide in bewilderment. “Brother, do you mean to say that Mother foresaw all this?”
But the response was just a chuckle. “Brother Saj’ra, there is a reason why the others mock you. There is something about you that is also different. Mother’s will is weakest in you and that has led you to deeply understand the Rendens’ way of thinking. Many things about you resemble more the Rendens than your kindred. Mother is gentle. She is warm. But she is also all-knowing.”
Saj’ra suddenly felt humbled. He often found himself admiring the Rendens for their prowess and their power of reason. But now he understood. The Rendens were torn, incomplete beings; torn between reason and passion. Their reason had not led to peace and harmony, but death and destruction due to their even stronger misplaced passion. Mother was wise and complete. And she had given him a purpose, too.
“Is there something you wanted to talk about, Brother?” gently asked Bin’ja.
The younger Nikruk gathered himself and recalled the purpose of his visit. “Yes. I have made a new discovery.”
He opened his hand to show a holographic projector that came to life. It projected a map of the area with all the systems and Renden bases marked.
“Brother, we are currently at this location, the red dot” he explained. “I have located the nearest place where the Rendens create these wormholes.”
Bin’ja looked intently at the holographic projection. Though they were moving at the speed of light, it almost looked as if they were not moving at all in the vastness. They were mere specks of dust in the infinite space. When he was younger, he had looked up at the stars and imagined they were all gods, like Mother. Would they miss him, the Nikruk or the Rendens if they happened to disappear? Somehow he doubted it.
Saj’ra continued. “It is a few days travel from where we are at our current speed. Given that we can only use light speed for ten consecutive days before at least three days of recharging, the computer estimates that it will take us eighteen Earth days to arrive there.”
Bin’ja did not change his expression. This worried Saj’ra since he had thought the news would lighten his mood.
“Brother, the Rendens are not stupid. They will not just let us use their machines, especially to go to their planet. No doubt this station is well armed with ships guarding it. How do you propose we overcome them? They are much more proficient at combat and using their own technology.”
Saj’ra had expected such questions and had prepared the answers. Perhaps he was able to think more like the Rendens that even the Rendens themselves. He touched the projector and the projection changed to a Renden in a white coat talking. But the language was different from what they had lea
rned during the occupation. Saj’ra again touched the projector one more time after which the image started speaking a robotized version of the Renden language with which they were acquainted.
“…like nothing before” said the Renden in the image. “The Leviathan is the most advanced ship in the Orthodox navy and probably even among all Renden vessels. All our technology has gone into creating this one wonder and it is an honour that you soldiers, sailors and marines have the chance to make glory for the Empire in the most powerful weapon the galaxy has seen.”
The image switched to a detailed blueprint of the ship but the same voice continued.
“The Leviathan is one of a kind not only since it is the smallest ever ship manufactured that can activate its own wormhole creator, but also since it can attack through these wormholes. Sensor droids, no bigger than tiny asteroids, are sent into the wormhole in order to electronically send back the attack coordinates. Be warned, however, the ship still needs to be within a few parsecs of the target since the sensor droids also have a limited computing capacity, even if it is a million times that of drones or missiles.
“Previously, sending a guided missile through a wormhole was impossible due to two reasons; first, the homing devices did not carry enough computing power to enable them to reach targets that were many light years away; second, entering and exiting a wormhole often entail very brief moments of power loss, enough to lose control of a guided missile. But with the help of these new sensor droids that embody tiny fission generators, the smallest ever created, we can feed information on the targets from the other side.”
Saj’ra turned the projector off. “I believe Mother led us to this ship. The probability of us coming across it in deep space, years after it had been lost was close to zero. Mother wants us to use the ship to avenge her” he said. He didn’t know where this sudden assertiveness came from.
Bin’ja was also apparently taken aback by the abrupt bold speech of Saj’ra. “I agree that without Mother’s guidance, we probably would not have survived. But how can you be sure that she wants us to destroy the Rendens? Can you imagine Mother seeking petty vengeance? Her realm is not only that of the Nikruk, but the entire cosmos.”
For a very brief moment, Bin’ja spied a sneering frown on Saj’ra’s face before it gave way to the usual expression of obedience. “We have seen our brothers and Mother burn and suffer. We have been given one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. What else could Mother’s will be?”
The leader of the Nikruk shook his head. “Brother, I know what the others are saying; that I am only pretending to see Mother’s vision; that I am lying to keep my position. But I tell you here and now; none among the visions that Mother sent to me show us destroying the Renden home world.”
“Then what do you see?” asked Saj’ra
“I see thousands of our brothers without aim, being used as slaves for Renden greed. The Rendens are somehow keeping Mother out of them, but they will ultimately fail. The only way to free them is to strengthen Mother. Even though you don’t see her visions, you can still feel her. You can still be sure of her existence. These brothers do not and cannot.”
Though Saj’ra enjoyed to a certain extent the freedom gained by not seeing the visions of Mother, he shuddered to think of her disappearance. It would be like his heart losing all warmth while continuing to pump blood.
Bin’ja, though trying to seem as sure of himself as possible, still had trouble interpreting Mother. He had to admit that the current revenge plot did seem plausible, even though everything in his soul told him that it was the wrong way. He could, nonetheless, see the possibilities given by the ship. Why else had they found it?
With the ability to send missiles through wormholes, they could take out the Renden defences beforehand. Then they could dock with the station and take out the remaining defending forces with the hand-held weapons on board. A wormhole could be opened close to Earth and they could enact their revenge. It sounded simple but where did this nagging feeling come from?
Chapter 17: Too Late
‘Cooperation between the Atlantic Alliance and the Pacific Federation, informally known as the Oceanic Alliance, was one of the most unlikely developments in space-age geopolitics. Though separated by continents, ideals and religious beliefs, the two blocs had one and only one cause for their de facto alliance; the rise of the New Han Empire.’ – Aristide Lenoir, Senegalese Historian,
Admiral Rick Hernandez had finally received permission from Command to enter Pacific Federation domain. But a Pacific fleet was also to meet them at Kheut ‘for assistance’. He knew that meant they wanted to keep an eye on his fleet. All he had to do now was to wait for a wormhole to appear near his ship. Once there, he would have four hours to bring the Atlantic soldiers on board and another wormhole would then open, leading them to the Quadrant Command where they would be debriefed.
The communications officer informed him that surface had found something and wanted his attention. He nodded his head. The projector showed an army captain surrounded by a few enlisted soldiers. He saluted Rick who returned the salute with another nod of his head.
“Sir, we seem to have found something” he said and held out what seemed to be the forearm of an alien. “Up till now, this is the only trace of the attackers that we have been able to find sir, and it was buried in a ditch. They did a very good job of covering their tracks, sir.”
The display now zoomed into the forearm. It was larger than a human’s and was covered with tough skin.
“The jagged edge suggests that it was blown off the owner by pulse fire. The skin is very tough, perhaps even tougher than our armour.”
Rick was intrigued. He did not recognize what kind of alien it must have belonged to. The three large flat fingers ended in sharp, metallic nails. Perhaps it was a subterranean alien that lived in the ground, which would explain why it was found in a ditch. The armour was thicker and of a darker shade of brown in the more exposed areas, such as the back of the hand and outer part of the forearm.
“Analyse” he ordered.
“Aye, sir” replied his science officer.
The arm now floated alone on the holograph projector while the ship computer analysed it. In a few second, the analysis was completed and the science officer reported the findings.
“Sir, the arm seems to be from a humanoid alien from a relatively low gravity planet. The thick skin, shape of the fingers and lack of hair suggests that it lives underground, or at least it did in its early evolution. The biological armour is made of a strands of carbon interlaced with silicon and another unknown element. It is very, very tough. The bone density, muscle size and blood sugar levels suggest that it had a very high metabolism and was probably capable of enormous strength and speed. Scans have also found traces of nerve chemicals used to block out part of a brain function.”
Rick sat mesmerized by the arm and the science officer’s explanation. It almost seemed like the alien was designed for war, a natural soldier. The nerve chemical made him very anxious and suspicious. Were these new soldiers straight from labs of one of the empires? He ordered a comparison with other known alien life forms from the ship database. The search gave two possible matches but his judgment told him that this was something new. Besides, neither of the two choices were intelligent aliens.
The ship navigator notified him of an imminent wormhole opening. He would have to further analyse the specimen later. Switching the projector back to the army captain on the surface, he ordered him to continue searching for other traces as well as questioning the Janpek survivors.
The wormhole opened in a few seconds, green light emanating from the edges like an aurora in the northern skies of Earth. Knowing that it would only remain open for thirty seconds, the ship entered through it at light speed. As soon as he exited the first one, which led to the closest wormhole manipulation station, another one was opened that would lead him into Pacific territory.
Upon exiting the second w
ormhole, however, the ship sensors picked up signals of weapons locking on to it. Rick was alarmed. Hadn’t it been notified to the Pacific Federation authorities that they would be here to evacuate survivors? He put his ship on full alert while ordering his crew not to arm the ship weapons. He hailed the mothership of the Pacific fleet that was waiting for them.
His opposite number responded and appeared on the projector.
“Admiral Hernandez, 31st Fleet, quadrant 602, Atlantic Alliance Navy” he introduced himself.
“Admiral Nakase, Pacific Federation Fleet Command, 504 quadrant, 12th fleet” answered the short, balding man on the projector.
“Admiral Nakase, we are here on Atlantic Alliance business. This has been notified to your command and our request was formally granted. The only survivors of an attack are located here. I urge you to disarm your weapons. We are on a mission that is in no way hostile to you” said Rick.
The Pacific admiral, however, continued to look at him with distrust and refrained from answering.
“You have been notified of our…” he continued but was cut off.
“Where were you and your fleet two hours ago?” asked Nakase, not in a friendly way.
Rick was taken aback by this interrogation. Anger gripped him but he calmed himself.
“Our whereabouts and undertaken missions are not your business, Admiral. Now, if you intend to blow us out of the sky, go ahead. If not, put down your damn weapons and let us do our job. We have men to save down there.”
This seemed to have the opposite effect of what he expected. The expression of mistrust and suspicion disappeared from his counterpart’s face. He ordered the Pacific fleet to stand down.
“Admiral, there is nothing to save down there. Two hours ago, an unidentified ship appeared and attacked our only military installation on the surface. Our scans show no survivors.”
Rick was dumbfounded at first but then soon became suspicious. Either the Pacific Federation was lying and the information they had retrieved from the survivors was too valuable to give to the Atlantic, or the attackers of Janpu had come to erase all traces. There was a third possibility that he did not want to consider; the Pacific Federation could be behind the original attack and were keeping the survivors prisoner on Kheut. But then he decided that wasn’t logical. Why would they allow them to send a message then? And why would they want to attack their biggest ally? The Pacific needed the Atlantic more than the other way around.