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Del sat back down at the table and pulled out a small cylindrical holographic projector and popped in onto the table. He started scrolling back through the information that he had managed to pull together about the Rear Admiral.
The Rear Admiral had become quite a legend over the centuries so he skipped over the popular culture stuff that described his survival of the Abarath and his rise from an ensign in the space exploration corps to become one of the best military leaders Vaslus had ever produced.
Instead he concentrated on the Rear Admiral's mission history to try and glean something from the battle reports, his tactics and especially the casualty rates of his ground troops. It was all good to be an excellent fleet commander and get results, but at what cost to lives on the ground.
Ever since Del had been drafted he had shown a proficiency, like so many other Hebran's, for war and its gruesome application. Very early on in his training he had been earmarked for the commando's. In the last two years of his personal timeline he had seen his fair share of dangerous missions and dire situations. Given the audience with the Primariate he expected nothing less than extreme danger on this mission too. However he had not survived this long or kept so many of his fellow veterans alive by blindly following the orders of someone sitting safely in deep orbit.
In theory this mission should be the last in his tour of duty and he was determined to stay alive to see his Tata again. Although six or seven decades had passed for her back on Hebra he could still feel the bond between them so he knew she was still alive. He could feel her inside him and around him at all times like a flickering shadow on the edges of his consciousness. How much longer that would last he did not know. Hebrans with their genetically manipulated biochemistry generally lived well into their 120's and his Tata would have to be well into her 90's already. Assuming he survived this next mission he was headed straight for the discharge officer and on the first jump ship back home to fulfill a promise.
He was tempted to open the holographic image of his Tata and stare at it again, but that was something best done in private. Instead he tried to let the comforting feeling of her ethereal presence calm him. At that moment the Primariate swept into the audience chamber and he quickly put the holo-projector back into his pocket as he stood to attention. Off in the corner of the room the Rear Admiral and his executive officer did the same.
"Relax gentlemen, I am the Primariate not the Grand Admiral," she said as she moved to sit at the head of the conference table. The Rear Admiral and his executive officer followed suit. "You must all be wondering why I have called you here in person."
She tapped the table and a holographic control board appeared in front of her and she used it to project the mission plan above the centre of the table.
"These are your official mission orders, with all objectives and parameters. I suggest you all memorize it because this is what you will need to sell to your troops. However none of these are your true primary objective."
The Rear Admiral shook his head and stared at the Primariate as though he were going to say something not fitting of her position. There seemed to be some history there that was not in any of the files he had read. He ignored it and jumped in before the Rear Admiral could, he just wanted to know what this was all about.
"What exactly is our real mission Primariate?" he interjected calmly.
The Primariate held the gaze of the Rear Admiral for a moment longer then turned her attention to Del.
"I want you to assault the planet, put us in a strong defensive position...then use the chaos of the ground battle to capture an Orlak commander and convince them to start negotiations for peace."
That was the last thing he had expected to come out of the Primariate's mouth and he was still trying to digest it when the Rear Admiral finally burst.
"Start peace talks with the Orlak! We have be researching them since the war started. We have not even been able to effectively communicate with the ones we have captive and you want us to start a dialogue in the middle of a warzone?!"
"What exactly are we supposed to ask them?" chimed in his executive officer.
"What it would take to make peace," replied the Primariate bluntly.
"A noble cause and a seemingly impossible task. However, I presume that the reason you have summoned us here is because you have figured out a way to communicate with the Orlak already," said Del thoughtfully.
"And that is exactly why I picked you specifically to lead the commando element of the ground forces Major. You do not think in that narrow blinkered one minded military way. The Rear Admiral used to be like you, when he was much younger. Perhaps he may regain some of his youth being around you," she said with a slight wink. Then she tapped at the table again and spoke into the communicator. "Bring it in."
A hidden door in the side of the audience chamber suddenly swished open and through it stepped one of the Primariate's monster sized bodyguards who was followed by a Orlak!
Del jumped out of his chair in a flash, pulled out his holo-projector and pointed it directly at the head of the Orlak. The bodyguard reacted by pulling both his own weapons and training them on Del while at the same time moving in front of the Orlak to block any shot Del might have.
"STOP!" yelled the Primariate to her bodyguard. Then she stood and turned to Del. "Impressive reaction time Major, not many people are faster on the draw than Dagar. Once we have finished here I'd like to know how you managed to smuggle in a plasma pistol through my security disguised as a holo-projector. Right now though, I need you to stand down before Dagar shoots you and I need to find myself another commando."
"What about the Orlak?" asked Del unmoved.
"It will not harm us," she reassured him. "You wanted to know how we will communicate with the Orlak, this is how."
"I am sorry Primariate, but if you had ever seen one of these in close quarters during a ground assault you would understand why I am reluctant to lower my weapon."
"Is this why you stayed on Vaslus?" asked the Rear Admiral of the Primariate, ignoring Del. She gave a slight nod in his direction and this seemed to change his whole attitude. "Stand down Major," he said as he walked past him and gestured for Dagar to step aside. The bodyguard did not move until the Primariate also gestured for him to comply. Yet even as he stepped aside he never took his guns or his eyes off Del.
The Orlak stood a good seven feet tall, a little short for one of its kind based on those he had seen in combat. Like all Orlak is was fairly thin, but Del knew that despite the lack of visible muscle tone it was extremely strong. The Orlak were plant like beings so its skin was a mixture of small photosynthetic green and purple patches evolved to absorb all wavelengths of light with great efficiency and then turn it back into energy.
When stationary it looked like it was quite literally rooted to the ground, but the base of its trunk was able to be split at will into two or four leg like appendages. As such it could manage bipedal or quadrapedal motion depending on its needs. It also had the ability to thrust those same appendages deep into soil to draw nutrients and water at night when the sun was not available. Its upper body had several smaller vine like appendages that acted as its arms. the number of those that it had varied from Orlak to Orlak. Its head sat on top of a thin neck and was smallish by comparison to the rest of its body and looked almost like an evolutionary after thought.
In military terms it was an extremely efficient fighting machine. It could survive great lengths of time with little or no food intake and could extract all its bodily water needs from the ground in all except the most extreme desert environments. Although they were much less active during the night they never actually slept in the same way a Vaslusian would. Something that was discovered the hard way during the first few ground battles of the war.
After over a hundred years of secret biological research on the Orlak, their biochemistry and physical needs were well known. Their language, their culture and their psyche on the other hand was still largely a
mystery. Despite endless attempts by the most advanced computer intelligence their language appeared to be completely random with no detectable structure to it. It was almost as though it was encrypted by them as they spoke. As such nobody had yet successfully communicated with an Orlak.
"It's so docile. How did you do it?" asked the Rear Admiral getting right up close to the Orlak.
"I am not docile I am obedient," replied the Orlak suddenly. Its voice sounded like a pipe organ being made to speak. It was very hard to understand, but it had the effect of making the Rear Admiral jump back in fright.
Del slowly lowered his weapon in disbelief.
"That's not possible, you taught it our language," said Del.
"Actually no we did not, it already knew it," replied the Primariate.
"It seems that while we have been studying them they have also been studying us," mused the Rear Admiral. "But why did they never try to communicate with us before then?"
"We must understand our enemy to defeat them," said the Orlak suddenly.
"Why are we your enemy?" asked Del
"Because you are unholy," replied the Orlak.
"Why..." started Del, but was cut off by the Primariate.
"You can do the whole 20 questions thing later. We have already spent every moment of our limited time available in questioning Alpha. Detailed recordings of each session will be available on your personalized security chips the moment you leave here."
"How can you be sure that it is as safely under your control as you believe," asked Del warily.
"Its obedience was unequivocally put to the test before it was ever let out, you can trust me on that. However this is our first successful prototype, it is literally less than two weeks since we went live so we are still learning its limitations."
"What was this treatment exactly?" asked the Rear Admiral.
"Alpha, please turn around," ordered the Primariate and the Orlak dutifully complied without hesitation. At the back of its head was a small metallic device that was imbedded into the base of its skull. "It became obvious very early on in our research that no form of persuasion was going to make the Orlak cooperate, not even extreme and elongated torture so we turned quickly to research on their brains. Research into the Orlak brain chemistry has been arduous to say the least. It is extraordinarily complex compared to our own. After a lot of trial an error we discovered a complex mixture of molecules which when injected in the right combination switch off certain areas of the Orlak brain that we know are related to severe violence. The nano-machine is designed to inject the concoction whenever its needed. It's still a shotgun approach, but we have run out of time. It's now or never to seek peace and a tame Orlak is our best chance at negotiating it."
"What happens if your little machine fails?" asked Del skeptically.
"The nano-controller has to be able to sense the Orlak brain activity to regulate the doses. If these readings ever go outside pre-defined safety parameters for more than a few minutes it will inject a fast acting neurotoxin instead. The same thing will happen if the nano-controller is tampered with or Alpha tries to remove it."
The Rear Admiral began to clap his hands slowly and loudly in a mocking applause.
"If only the Grand Admiral were here right now Primariate. He would have a smile on his face from ear to ear."
"And why would that be?" snapped the Primariate, temporarily losing her composure.
"Because this is more insane than any mission he has ever sent me on and he was wanted me dead since I joined his fleet for the battle of Egra! I think he would appreciate the irony of you sending me to my death on a mission that you knew from the start I'd never refuse," he said his tone mordant. He paced around the chamber for a few moments stopping only to stare angrily at the Primariate and then pleadingly at his executive officer who stood resolutely quiet. Finally his shoulders slumped in defeat and whatever inner turmoil he had been going through had resolved so when he spoke again there was a hard core of determination in his voice. "We will either end this war in peace for you or die trying Primariate."
Prominence - Redemption Page 6