After a moment, Kesh straightened and said simply, “We are the people who will destroy you.” Feln never wanted to give Kesh a hearty slap on the back as much as he did now. As admiral of the fleet, Kesh had seen too many people in his care die, even up to only moments before, and was obviously in no mood for diplomacy.
The voice made a sound that Feln realized was laughter. “Others have made this claim. They’ve all become our food. You’ll be no different.”
“Strong words coming from an enemy whose fleet and base we just destroyed.”
“That was a minor set back. We have much more.”
“All the more for us to kill.” Kesh said evenly.
“Tiny lizard, you speak mightily and it amuses us. But did we not take one of your best? One of your champions? Her mind made for fascinating feeding, and we were delighted to receive some interesting new abilities because of it.”
At this, Katashka suddenly appeared in front of them. “Admiral, they’re right. It’s pointless to fight them.” She held out her hands and smiled. “Just give in.” She looked at Valisia. “We’ll be together again. It’s painful at first, but it’s so wonderful afterward.”
Valisia closed her eyes tight and tears streamed down her cheeks. “Please stop doing this. My sister is dead.”
“But I’m not dead. I’m here waiting for you, Val.”
Feln remembered how Denxeiter’s cockpit camera showed that there was nothing actually there the last time “Katashka” appeared. It was just a psychic illusion.
“Everybody, this isn’t real,” he said. “Don’t listen to it.”
“Katashka” looked at Feln, “We were interrupted last time, lover.” She started to strip. “Wanna continue?”
“That’s enough!” Aaltskog suddenly yelled.
“Katashka” looked at Aaltskog and laughed wickedly. “Oh, the little robot doll is jealous! You’re just pissed because you could never act on your feelings and he keeps rejecting you.”
Aaltskog laughed heartily. “Ha, well then you’re pretty stupid! It just so happens we spent some very quality time about an hour ago and it was fabulous!” Feln felt both embarrassed and proud of Aaltskog at that moment. She walked over to “Katashka” and said, “Now, drop this bullshit magic show right now and stop wasting our time.”
Katashka disappeared and the voice returned, “As you wish. It’s all irrelevant anyway when we feed on you. The Masters will soon make your entire pathetic civilization our cattle for slaughter.”
“You couldn’t even take control of me. And you think you’ll manage to beat our entire Empire?” Aaltskog laughed. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
Feln was surprised at just how brazen Aaltskog was with the enemy, but there was something about her that conveyed strength that he’d never seen in her before. All the more impressive considering just how strong she’d gotten over the past couple months. He remembered what she said after he asked if she was okay when they tried to possess her mind and body. I know that they’re evil and things are bad, but I feel like we’re shining a light on them. Scary things aren’t as bad when you know more about them.
“Your bravado, while amusing, will not save you,” the voice said. “We will be coming to finish you off soon enough and—“ The voice suddenly stopped.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” Aaltskog asked.
“What…what have you…?”
“Yeah, not so fun when somebody does it to you, huh?”
“But…but how…?” The voice was suddenly no longer smug. In fact, Feln heard fear.
Aaltskog turned to Kesh, “Admiral, I know what we need to do and where we need to go to do it.”
“Do not ignore us!” the voice demanded. “Answer us, what did—“
“Oh, shut up!” Aaltskog yelled. She strode over purposefully to the sword and slammed her hands against the blade.
The symbols seemed to melt off the metal, leaving it shiny and sparkling, like new. The symbols moved across the floor like a sludge and congealed into a small black blob.
The voice, sounding much quieter and pathetic, said, “We don’t understand.”
“You don't have to understand. Because soon you will cease to exist,” Aaltskog said coldly. “The admiral was right. We are the people who will destroy you.” She smashed her foot down on the blob and the voice screamed and faded away, taking the hum with it. When Aaltskog lifted her foot, there was nothing left of the blob or any other clue that Ganxeiter’s sword had ever been touched by something so unclean.
Valisia’s eyes opened slowly and she wiped away more tears. Aaltskog walked over to her and hugged her. “Katashka’s sword is pure. That filth is gone. Don’t worry, they’ll never pull that trick of using her image again. I’ve made it so they can’t.”
Aaltskog turned to Feln and Kesh. “Some of that was bluffing. I know what we need to do, but not where to go. Yet.”
Feln said, “Okay, you obviously— what’s the word I’m looking for…hacked? —You hacked them right?”
“Yeah. When poor Hoil over there managed to tap into their way of communication, there was a kind of feedback. That’s what killed him. This is really hard to explain, but when the humming started up, it was like they were sending an information packet to our minds so we could understand them. Not everybody’s brain can handle it and it drives them insane.” She indicated the people’s bodies being carried away who had killed themselves.
Aaltskog continued, “Normally it’s ‘encrypted’ so we can’t turn around and monitor their communications. But I think when they tried to take over my body that time, something in my subconscious copied their encryption key. As we know, there’s a part of my brain that’s other-dimensional and a little different. And while that probably protected me from them taking over, I think it actually opened them up for me to hack. So when they started their little show this time, it all just clicked in my head. Again, it’s hard to explain and I’m not sure that even makes sense, but it’s the only way I can think of to explain it.”
“I believe this is something we’ll be forever indebted to the memory of Dr. Maass for,” Kesh said. “I feel positive that no other Companion but one of his could do this.”
“Maybe,” Aaltskog said. “We’ve always known he did things a little differently. But whether by accident or design, my brain is not only able to resist the attacks of the enemy, I now know how to understand their internal language.”
“That’s great,” Feln said. “Now you said you did some bluffing. What’d you mean?”
“Well, once I understood their own language, I was able to sense the orders they were giving to their fleet. As we were talking, I picked up signals that there was a fleet coming to attack us. But once I said I knew what to do and where to go, I could sense them panicking and recalling their fleet to take up defensive positions.”
“Very good. You’ve bought us some time,” Kesh said.
“Yeah, but I don’t know for how long. Because that was what I meant about bluffing: I said I know what we have to do and where to go to do it. But I don’t know where to go. Hopefully we can find it before they figure out I was lying and they decide to attack us again.”
“Okay,” said Feln. “But you said you know what to do. So, what do we have to do?”
“Well, we have to destroy an array. A really big array. Like, something almost the size of the colony.”
“When you say almost the size of the colony, how ‘almost’ are we talking about?”
“It’s about fifteen miles wide and one mile deep, compared to a colony being twenty miles long and three miles across.”
Feln felt his stomach turn but finally got out, “Okay…”
“The array is what pulled us out of jump and fried our jump coils. It’s also what makes communication pretty much impossible.”
“So you’re saying we destroy this array and we can call for help?”
“Yeah. The jump coils are fried, so we can’t go anywhere until they’re replaced
. We only have impulse power. But if we destroy the array, we can call for help and a rescue fleet can jump in and help us since the array will be destroyed and it won’t affect the rescue fleet’s drives.” She paused. “The only thing is, I don’t know where the array actually is.”
Kesh nodded, “But we have the information we recovered from the base and now that you understand their language…”
Aaltskog grinned. “Yep, I think we’ll be able to get all the information we need once I start digging in. I can’t imagine one of their main fleet support bases wouldn’t have what we’re looking for.”
“Excellent work,” Kesh said. “You truly are a wonder.”
Aaltskog scratched the back of her head and blushed. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Okay, for once your bloated sense of self-importance may be well-deserved,” Feln said.
“By the way, I also found out they haven’t been able to crack any of our computers on the ships they’ve possessed,” Aaltskog said.
All Francescan ships had security measures in place that would lock down the computers and encrypt all information if an alien presence breached the bridge. It was completely automatic and had been designed that way ever since pirates managed to capture a couple Francescan ships centuries ago.
That same security feature was now keeping secure information from falling into the hands of the aliens. The computers couldn’t be unlocked except by someone with clearance from the highest levels in the Navy. So even though Francescans had obviously been possessed, none had high enough clearance to deactivate the security measures.
“That’s a blessing,” Kesh said.
“Aaltskog,” Valisia said quietly. “What did you mean when you said that you made it so they can’t use Katashka’s image again?”
Aaltskog softened. “When they were open to me like that, I ripped it away from them. When they possessed Katashka, they managed to absorb some of her psychic empathic ability and use it to make those projections.
“I know she never had that ability herself, but it was a side effect that was created from their minds trying to mesh with hers. Well, when I was ‘hacking’ them, that ability stuck out to me as such an obvious thing that didn’t belong to them that I was pretty easily able to remove it from them. I promise they can’t ever do it again.”
“Thank you,” Valisia said and a smile started to appear through her tears.
“One other thing,” Aaltskog said. She looked at all of them. “I said this before, but I have to admit that I didn’t know for sure. Now I do. When these things possess someone, the person they were truly does leave. Not once did I ever feel any of Katashka’s psychic energy, or her essence, or soul, or whatever, during any of that. The instant these things take over, the person we know leaves and is gone. I just want everyone to know that our people are not somehow still in there, being held prisoner in their own bodies, and being tortured by these monsters.”
She turned back to Valisia, “I know it’s not the best news, but I just want you to be positive that Katashka is free. She became free the moment it happened, okay?”
Valisia hugged Aaltskog tightly, new tears threatening. “Thanks so much for telling me. Thank you. Thank you…”
Feln decided that when the time was right, he’d tell Valisia of the message he got from Katashka when her soul left her body. But for now, Aaltskog’s news would be enough.
Kesh put a gentle hand on Valisia’s shoulder. “We will avenge your sister and all of our fallen comrades. These things will regret the day they decided to attack us.” He turned to Aaltskog. “It’s time to see what information you can uncover about the enemy so we can hasten their demise.”
Chapter Three
With the head of the science division and Hoil now dead, it took some time for the rest of the team to get the department’s affairs in order. But they did their jobs as efficiently as possible to get the captured enemy information prepared for Aaltskog. As she sat down and started to sift through the information, she made notes that she thought would be helpful to the team.
“I’m sorry, this sort of thing isn’t really my specialty,” she said shyly as all eyes stared at her and everyone seemed to hang on her every word.
With the fate of the fleet in her hands, I guess we’re all hanging on her every word, Feln thought.
But as the hours went by and the science team started to make sense of her hastily scrawled notes, they could start to help her with the task and important information started to be revealed little by little. Kesh and Valisia had gone back to their stations, leaving only Feln sitting on a small couch in a corner of the lab. He used the time to finally get more much-needed sleep and was suddenly jarred awake when Aaltskog shook him excitedly.
“I’ve got it! Wake up and listen to this.” She beamed.
“That’s good,” Feln said. “Call the admiral down here and tell him while I get back to sleep.” He was only half joking.
“Nah, come on,” she said and pulled him up on to his feet. He blinked and shook the cobwebs from his head before realizing Kesh was already there, waiting.
“Gee, thanks for waking me up before the admiral arrived,” he whispered, annoyed.
“Please don’t be angry with her,” Kesh said, and Feln reddened at being overheard. “I came in to check up on her progress and told her to let you sleep.”
“Yeah, so you can be nice to me, now,” Aaltskog said. “Especially now that I’ve got most of this figured out.”
“Now hang on,” Feln said. “Before you prepare for your celebration party as the savior of the fleet, are you sure your information is accurate? We can’t afford mistakes and like you said, this isn’t really your specialty.”
“Once she provided the key to the encryption and the correct dimensional key, we were able to start confirming her information as she went,” one of the science department said. “I and the rest of the department can confirm her accuracy.”
Aaltskog turned to Feln and lifted an eyebrow as if to say, “See?”
“Then by all means…” He waved for her to continue.
“Okay, so like I said before, we’re here because of an array that can pull ships from jump, as well as jam communications and sensors.”
“Yeah…”
“Well, I have scary news and kind of funny news about that. The scary news is that these things have been watching the Empire a long time. They’ve monitored various transmissions, and have abducted some of our people. Deep space explorers who never came back and other people who have gone missing over the years. They’ve even managed to infiltrate some of our planets. They’re mostly in uninhabited areas of those planets, but they’re there. Keeping tabs.”
“You say they’ve been watching the Empire for a long time,” Kesh said. “How long?”
“About a hundred years,” Aaltskog said. “They started actively moving against us around ten years ago. I don’t know what set them off, but it seems like they might have gotten some inside help to let them know what to do.”
Feln and Kesh looked at each other. “That’s rather disconcerting,” said Kesh.
“It is,” Aaltskog agreed. “But while we haven't uncovered every single bit of information from the base yet, we already have the locations of some of their infiltration units. So there’s some good news. And even though it’s not likely some base in the middle of nowhere has all the information we need, at least now we know about this and can start to take steps against them.”
“So why are they watching us? Are they actually working for the Ancient Enemy?” Feln asked.
“Kind of,” Aaltskog said. “They were originally created by the Ancient Enemy and were one of the weapons sent out to destroy the Ancients. But they haven’t actually heard from the Ancient Enemy in at least 10,000 years. They definitely worship the Ancient Enemy as gods and are still doing the task originally given to them, but they’re not being directly controlled by them. They’re acting based on their religious dogma.”
“If they hav
en’t heard from the Ancient Enemy in such a long time, maybe that means the Ancients actually managed to defeat them,” Kesh said. “Whatever the case, the fact that it’s been so long since they lost contact is a good sign.”
Aaltskog nodded, “Not being actually controlled by the Ancient Enemy suddenly makes them a lot less scary. Still, their religion is pretty core to what they are and they still believe they’re being guided by the hand of the Ancient Enemy.”
“And that brings me to your other question,” she said to Feln. “They’re watching us because their original mission was to destroy the Ancients. Well, the non-magic humans of the Empire are the descendants of the Ancients. So, by default, the Empire is going to be their enemy because the Imperial Household is created from the bloodline of the Ancients, as are all non-magic humans in the Empire. After all, the nano-tech in non-magic human blood has been replicated and passed down since pre-history from the Ancients themselves. So there you go.”
“And this array is a weapon they intend to use in their mission,” Kesh said.
“Yes, the original plan was to place the army in a remote part of the Shoal Zone and activate it. All of this gas and debris was created by the array. It seems that without the array, a lot of this stuff will break down and disappear.”
“How and why does it create this material?” Kesh asked.
“I don’t know how it does it,” Aaltskog admitted. Something about subatomic attraction and reconstruction or materials. It’s totally over my head. As for why, the function of the array that jams sensors and comms seems to work best if there’s a bunch of material in the area to magnify the effect. It doesn’t work as well in an area of clear space. Obviously, all the stuff the array has added to this system is doings its job.
“Anyway, the intention was to transport the array into a system similar to this one near the Empire’s most traveled space lanes, suck a bunch of fleets in one at a time and then pick them off one by one with multiple fleets of their own providing overwhelming firepower while the caught Imperial fleet is basically blind thanks to the jamming.”
Francescan War Chronicles 1: Space Knight Denxeiter Page 27