by H. T. Kofruk
Terry stood up and looked at the formidable captain squarely in the eye. Both men recognized the soldier in the other, but none were intimidated.
“I take your comments as a confession to crimes against the laws of the Lord. As an Atlantic Alliance Marine Corps officer, I could not only arrest you, but also execute you on the spot given the dire situations.”
The former Berserker laughed out loud. “You forget, soldier, that legality must have one thing behind it, and that is the power to enforce. On this ship, my word is law, and I also have my means to enforce it” he answered with his hands on the handle of the pulse pistol on his belt.
Terry smirked. “I have yet had the pleasure of killing a Black Berserker. A fitting sacrifice for the Cause, don’t you think?”
Bongani laughed. “And that pleasure won’t be yours, not today. I could swat you like a fly right here, right now as I’ve done so many times to your kind”
Heera rolled her eyes at the two men’s attempt at intimidating one another. “Captain, we have just been through hell, Terry more than I. What happened to us in the past few days could have ramifications throughout the galaxy. We need access to a wormhole station as soon as possible to report to our superiors. The situation is dire. As a Renden citizen, you have a duty to assist us in reporting a potentially existential threat.”
Bongani narrowed his eyes and looked at Heera. Terry tried to read what he was thinking but could not. “Duty as a citizen, you say? Well, if it’s such big news that affects me, I think as a Renden that I have earned the right to share your knowledge” said the smuggler, this time with his hand grasping his pistol.
***
His dark, cold sub-consciousness was somehow different. His world had been blank, like the black sky on some nights. But yet, he had no recollection of ever gazing at the night sky. He looked at the other one standing in front of him. Its eyes looked as blank as he had felt. Why was he aware of all this now? He knew his eyes had been seeing, his ears had heard and his nostrils had smelled. He even knew that his hands had gripped. But what?
There it was again, the warm wriggling feeling somewhere in his head. Or was it his heart? He couldn’t tell. He knew he had felt it before, too. But he was only really aware of it now, as if he it had occurred in a deep slumber. He wanted it to last this time. He concentrated on it.
The one standing opposite him was still motionless and blank. Didn’t he feel it too? Somehow, he knew that he felt it but was not aware.
Suddenly, images came to him, blurred visions. He could see his hands, gripping an object. Now, they were digging in the dark, his eyes seeing everything green. A strange looking yet familiar creature started screaming. The screams were deafening but he soon made them stop.
A sudden jolt. The warm wriggle became a sharp moment of intense heat but soon subsided. For a very brief moment, his mind was filled with warmth. Someone was trying to tell him something. He concentrated his untrained mind. What are you trying to tell me?
But then something inexplicable happened. He had connected. The feeling was familiar to what he had felt when he had hatched. A vast warmth that enveloped his fragile mind. Yes, it was telling him that it was alright. He had committed sins, but they were all forgiven. He suddenly felt the pain that he had inflicted on the fragile creature. Tears flowed from his eyes. He had defied Mother. But she knew it was not his will to do so. In fact, he had had no will.
Then he felt something else. Or someone. This being was also warm but much more commanding. Was it, Father?
He snapped out of it abruptly. But this time, he knew that the thread that connected him to Mother could never be cut. His eyes looked around him, as if to discover the world for the first time. One of the fragile creatures was approaching him. He remembered this one and realized it was the one who controlled his will and made him kill and destroy.
The creature, looking down at a holograph emanating from the web-com that ran through the entire installation didn’t even feel it. Indeed, for a few seconds he was wondering why the holograph was spinning in air. Was it a malfunction? But right before the world turned black, he realized; his severed head was flying through the air while still concentrated on the conjured image. During the split second that the world blurred before turning black, he saw his headless torso kneeling lifelessly.
Chapter 22: Decision
‘Emperor Han Ching-Diu was definitely not known for his merciful nature…’ – Han Rhong-zi, Chinese historian, great-grandson of Emperor Han Ching-Diu,
The Walking God was not content. With a quick twitch of the wrist of his metallic hand, he sent the messenger sprawling on the floor of the Imperial Office with a deep gash on his cheek. The prime minister had failed and therefore, had to be removed from his position. He had failed to allay the fears of the other empires about the alleged Chinese weapons program. His most important job in the meeting of the Six was to convince the others that the Chinese Empire had no hand in the attacks. But he had only succeeded in making them more suspicious. A Shadow would be sent to kill him in his sleep.
The Atlantic Alliance and Pacific Federation leaders were almost certainly planning for war. The Emperor’s old friend, Admiral Liu, had done well to destroy the Pacific military installation that housed the Janpu survivors. Had he not made that tough decision, the Atlantic and Pacific would both have had much more information than they currently did. If only the survivors had not escaped in the first place. The Crown Prince Xiao would most probably ask for the admiral’s head. The Emperor was well aware of the rivalry between the two for his heart.
A double attack on both Pacific and Atlantic territories would be too much for any kind of diplomatic solution. And it would only be a matter of time until his enemies found out. Perhaps it was better this way, even though the Imperial troops weren’t yet fully prepared. After all, it was virtually impossible to be fully prepared for a war of this potential scale.
The Atlantic Alliance was powerful but predictable. They would certainly attack Chinese colonial targets, most probably multiple targets at the same time. The attacks would be surgical and critical in nature, but not a decisive blow. A diplomatic solution would be expected to conclude the hostilities. In the mind of the Atlantic, all of this would take place far from Earth, since a war on Earth would spell misery for the twelve billion inhabitants for many years to come.
That was the conventional logic without the newest card. A war on Earth would be fought the old-fashioned way; with troops on the ground. Advances in anti-aircraft, anti-missile technology made long-range warfare difficult to exploit against an enemy with similar technological and resource capacity. Most of the defence satellites would be poised for outer-space attacks rather than used to assist ground troops. And that made the Nikruk infantry all the more important. If his two enemies chose to go to war, he would give them one to end all wars.
***
Meanwhile, in a cabin in the Andes sixty miles east of Santiago, Chile, Phuong Tran and Giovanni Morgante were sitting at a round mahogany table surrounded by their generals, assistants and advisors. Star map projections were hanging in the air and dozens of empty coffee mugs, plates of half-eaten donuts and the occasional cigar butt covered the table. The president of Chile, a country claimed by both the Atlantic Alliance and the Pacific Federation but governed by neither, was also sitting at the table, largely ignored by the others.
“As I’ve said for the hundredth time, a full frontal attack cannot succeed. S-5190 is too well fortified with its own wormhole manipulator” said Phuong.
“And yet as I have said for the thousandth time, my Phuong, we need to send a sufficient message. You saw how that slant-eyed bastard was arrogantly lying through his teeth” replied Giovanni, his flustered red face full of frustration.
Phuong decided to ignore the slant-eye remark. He could see how intent the Italian was on using brute force to subdue the Chinese Empire. Typical, ex-military thinking, she thought. “How long do you think it wo
uld take for the entire Chinese fleet to arrive? This isn’t a message, Giovanni, this is a full-scale war you’re trying to wage.”
“I am not afraid of war. Let the chinks come” said the burly Atlantic defence secretary, Chuck Bates, who was seated next to Giovanni. “Maybe this is a Pacific thing, this cowardly thing” he added with a chuckle.
The tall, dark-skinned Pacific Federation minister of defence, Ray Razak, stood up and looked at his Atlantic counterpart squarely in the eye.
“Giovanni, put a muzzle on your dog before it gets neutered” said Phuong coolly.
Startled at the blatant remark, the big American also stood up and looked as if he would overturn the whole table. His knuckles turned white as he grasped the edge of the table. To hear such a thing from a woman! And a slant-eyed woman at that!
“Sit down, Chuck” ordered the Atlantic high chancellor, to which his defence secretary only reluctantly complied after a few more threatening glances.
With a long sigh Phuong cooled herself. The Atlantic was not counting out a protracted colonial war with China. She couldn’t get the Pacific embroiled in this. With the Orthodox Empire backing China, the military might of the two combined sides was roughly the same. That meant that a war would not be conclusive for years, probably decades. If a colonial war lagged on for too long, a war on Earth would be inevitable. How would the Peace Alliance and the Afrikan Republic react? Who would they side with?
Another factor the Atlantic Alliance was seemingly overlooking was the new alien army the Chinese were now virtually confirmed to be using. They were obviously in denial of the capabilities of this army that was able to kill almost every single member of an Atlantic Alliance invasion force.
“Are any of you suffering from acute amnesia?” she asked forgetting all diplomatic courtesy. “Can anybody tell me what happened to a presumably invincible Atlantic force of over fifty thousand men?” The people on the Atlantic side of the table grunted and tried to look as if they didn’t just hear what Phuong said. She continued “We have no information about this force except that it is probably under Chinese control and able to hollow out a mothership even if a small force should happen to board it. Given that variable, an infantry war on Earth would be disastrous for us; we need to give them a good arse-kicking in space and make swift peace agreements. Now, if you’re willing to be objective and mature about this, should we continue?”
Her words threw a sullen mood in the room. She was glad to see everyone was looking a bit more thoughtful and serious. At least after three hours of squabbling, they would hopefully be able to focus a bit.
“I think the message should be simple; we know what you’re up to and we’re not standing for it; abandon it or we go to war” said Ray. “The damage from the attack has to be critical but it also has to respect certain boundaries. If we can find where they are training this new army or its planet of origin, it would be an ideal focal point of our attack.”
“But we don’t know where they come from or where they’re conditioned. Hell, we don’t even know what they look like or if they really exist” said Giovanni. “Don’t you have people on the inside?”
Phuong looked thoughtful. “We do, and they confirm the existence. But everything else is unknown. Understandably, information is restricted at the highest level but we have reason to believe it’s being piloted by the Imperial Family.”
“And none of them had any idea about it before we were attacked? None of them know where they are now? Sheesh, you guys are being butt-fucked by the chinks in the spy game” said Chuck.
“That’s because you guys are so crap at it” rebutted Ray. “Besides, since a few weeks ago, we believe that they’ve increased surveillance on their communications network. Reports have become very patchy.”
He suddenly got up and with a few hand gestures conjured up a holograph of the galaxy. “This arm of the spiral is mostly Chinese territory” he said while pointing at the holograph. “Most of their exploration in the past few centuries has been focused on the centre of the Yinhexi, which is understandable. The development of an alien army usually takes about two years. If this alien army is indeed a new Chinese development, it probably means that the species was discovered quite recently.”
“That makes sense” agreed Giovanni. “In the Atlantic at least, there hasn’t been a martial race designation for more than sixty years.”
“It’s been more than a century for us. Our intelligence suggests that Chinese exploration of the tip of the spiral only took place in the last thirty years. This new alien species was most probably discovered there. It would make sense to build a training and conditioning facility not too far from their home planet, at least until they’re fully assimilated into the empire.”
It was Chuck who spoke this time. “Well, that tip is still a few parsecs across. We don’t have any up-to-date star charts of that area. How do you suggest we find a facility in such a vast, unknown area?”
“That’s the priority of our spy organisation at the moment” replied Ray.
One of Phuong’s aides entered and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. The aide bent down to whisper something in her ear. At the same time across the table, the Atlantic Alliance president’s aide was also doing the same thing. After both had finished, their bewildered expressions mirrored each other.
Giovanni was first to speak. “Phuong, we have received two encrypted messages from one of our fleet admirals. They also involve the Pacific so I’ll have it displayed here.”
First, the head of a young marine officer requesting evacuation from a Pacific planet following an attack on Janpu was displayed. Right afterwards, the slowly rotating head of an elderly Atlantic Alliance navy admiral was projected on the centre of the table. The message confirmed what everybody thought. Once it had ended, everyone was silent. Planets from both the Atlantic Alliance and the Pacific Federation had been attacked with barely an interval of a month between them.
Giovanni’s eyes locked with Phuong’s. Without speaking they agreed upon what would come next. The Pacific Federation and the Atlantic Alliance would prepare for full scale colonial war.
Chapter 23: The Plan
‘When a civilization over-reaches and decides it has the right and capacity to play god, it is standing on the edge of a knife and a slip will kill it.’ – Xhavo vo Kaur, Janpek Historian,
Xiao did not close his eyes despite the wet winds that blew in his face. He wanted to see the whole process. The entire operation had taken two months, a full month longer than he had planned but the prize was far too valuable to hurry the operation. The sudden storms certainly didn’t help. One of his scientists had suggested that the sudden destruction of so many of the enormous trees may have destabilized the planet’s climate. But what did he care of this fringe planet?
The tunnel delved five kilometres into the crust and was equipped with a crane-track. The timer said he had to wait another five minutes. He adjusted his imperial-yellow scarf to shelter his fragile throat from the elements. It almost felt as the planet was angry with him for taking one of its jewels. Keep it up and I’ll blow you out of orbit…
Four minutes left, and he could feel the air changing. It grew warmer and the storm seemed to subside in the immediate area around them though black clouds were still visible overhead. Two minutes left, the warmth grew stronger and a faint pink light emanated from the tunnel. One minute left, he was sure that he heard a heart beating and a slight whispering in his ear. The air was like the touch of a light spring breeze with a musky, sweet scent.
When the prize finally emerged, it was as if the world stood still. The sound of a mother’s heart beating in her bosom filled the air along with a mesmerizing pink light. Xiao’s mother, the late Empress, had never held him, not even to feed him. A lowly task like that was given to one of the nurses. For the first time in his life, he felt a mother’s embrace. Despite the forewarned possibility of radioactivity, he wanted desperat
ely to touch it and to rest his head. He inched forth, arms stretched forward like a toddler.
When the robotic arms of the crane put the prize into a titanium container filled with preserving liquids and then sealed it shut, he felt as if he had woken from a good long sleep filled with pleasant dreams. He breathed in the feeling as he would the scent of a freshly picked imperial yellow rose. Indeed, for a few seconds he was oblivious to the howling wind and heavy rain on his face.
The brown earth was getting muddy and the men were struggling to get the container onto the landing craft. If they lingered for long, taking off could become difficult.
Xiao had what he wanted. After five years of searching and frustration, he had finally found one of the greatest treasures in the universe.
***
Rick didn’t only feel like a black sheep, he looked the part, too. His black hair, albeit with specks of grey, stood in contrast to the blond or light brown heads of the thirty other admirals. Only Admiral of the Navy van Hoorne, who had a full head of white hair, was older than him.
The attack on Chinese territory had to be quick and as crippling as possible. A total of thirty fleets, with thirty-one motherships, seventy cruisers and well over a hundred destroyers between them, were to take out a multitude of wormhole stations, mineral mines and important planets in Chinese territory while the eighteen Pacific fleets would do the same in Orthodox territory. That would halve enemy wormhole capacity in the frontier areas and put their reporting schedules, which followed strict wormhole opening timetables, into chaos. For some remote planets, attack and damage reports would take weeks to reach their command.
Unlike the younger admirals, Rick had fought as a young deck-officer in the second Sino-Atlantic Outer Colonial war almost a half-century ago. He had a fairly clear idea of what a full scale war with another Renden power with similar technological and military capabilities was like. But the other admirals had seldom tasted defeat; their main enemies throughout their careers were either intelligent aliens with primitive technology or Renden pirates and smugglers.