Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  The idea was simple, a gene therapy treatment that would mask the genes of someone’s body and make it appear as if they were crossbreed between two races. Several simulations were run as she got a working model going, none of them showed to be effective, the virus still infected the host. After carefully looking at the results, she discovered rather quickly that the gene therapy that used human genes did indeed work.

  Then it hit her. The human wraith were sought after by the order as human DNA was unique, only tampered with in ancient times by an unknown intelligence, possibly the Lyonria themselves. There was indeed proof that they had interest in the human, Linl home worlds according to the hologram found on Oyuri. In any case the virus was designed to search for pure genes, it’s not that it wanted a pure host, but rather it wanted a pure human.

  Humans crossbred with other species were useless to the order. She worked with the order long enough to know that they were making slight adjustments to the virus itself. Odelea suspected that the order probably at one point wanted to modify the virus further by making it only select pure human genes, but never made it to that stage. After all the celestial ascension and everything that had happened on Oyuri was only because the order’s original plan got unexpectedly accelerated. Had they had that extra time, the virus probably would have been modified to infect only pure breed humans.

  Odelea’s belly groaned for more food, but she ignored it. She was nearly seeing positive results and taking the time to eat was only going to force her to wait that much longer to see them. She made another pass with the therapy in a simulation, and ensured human genes were used, thus making them appear as if they were half human and half whatever their species were. In the case of for humans, the therapy simply copied Danyal natural set up, half human half Hashmedai.

  The results of the simulation appeared on her projection.

  And it worked.

  The gene therapy not only prevented people from becoming infected but reversed the effects. She had the cure, now they needed to return to Oyuri. They needed that wormhole to be operational again.

  Dark Star, Derkurio orbit, Morutrin system

  Everyone huddled around Odelea in the cockpit as she made the news that she had something to tell them all. Hashmedai and Radiance eyes were all on her and for once she didn’t feel nervous about it. She felt proud of what she did, not only did she figure out a way to undo the Celestial Order’s work, but also found a means of getting Hashmedai and Radiance to work together.

  “Please tell me you have good news,” Phylarlie said.

  “I do,” Odelea said as she handed everyone small tubes to inject themselves with. “Gene therapy, our cure to this problem.” She had spoken twice, once in Radiance and one more in Hashmedai.

  “So we can’t be infected?” Vynei asked.

  After the crew injected themselves, she handed them additional packages out from her sack. It contained dozens of vials to inject others, wraith, and non-wraith. “The only threat now is being all out killed by a wraith,” she said. “Inject them with this and it should revert them.”

  “Now we need to return to Oyuri,” Phylarlie said. “Let’s hope that Avearan’s body is safe with Ella’s mind.”

  “Make sure she comes with us!” Eicelea said, jabbing her finger toward Phylarlie. “There’s no excuse now.”

  “Her psionic powers will still attract the wraith,” Odelea said. “But that might be a good thing now since we could keep the wraith with us, send them all back to Oyuri so they don’t infect the rest of the system or perhaps cure them right then and there.”

  “Wait so you want us to reactivate the wormhole, and travel through it with wraith following behind?” Trin said.

  “Yes.”

  “Can’t we just inject them here?”

  “They’re still spread out, we need all of them to move to a central source,” Odelea said, then looked toward that central source, Phylarlie and Trin. “You two will be perfect.”

  Buried Linl ship, Derkurio, Morutrin system

  The pitch-black halls of the Linl ship lit up once more as bright teleportation lights flashed. Trin, Phylarlie, Eicelea, and Vynei appeared from the teleport. This time there was no fear in the hearts of the four as they split up and ran through the halls. Eicelea and Vynei moved back to the bridge to try again and obtain the data crystals as Trin and Phylarlie entered the storage room where the wormhole oval was kept.

  Trin kept his psionic barrier up while Phylarlie double-checked her disk inventory. She still had a lot of the singularity disks on hand as she never did get around to using them. She’d have to remember the secret, powerful, and experimental tactic she had at her disposal should their plan fail. Loud shrieks traveled throughout the ship as the wraith were going toward them, one by one. Trin used his telekinetic skills to hurl the vials carrying the cure toward the wraith as if they were bullets and injected them with it.

  Some of the more psionically developed wraith was an issue as they either had barriers up, jump ported about or straight up flung the vials back toward Trin with their mind. Phylarlie tasked herself to deal with them and utilized her jump porting skills combined with incendiary disks to shatter the barriers of the wraith that had them. Whenever she saw an opening, she rapidly jabbed a wraith with the vial. The effects of the gene therapy took some time, but eventually the injected wraith fell over and their bodies began to revert back slowly to their original form.

  Across the halls Phylarlie heard the cheerful screams of Eicelea and Vynei as they ran down to join up with the two. She saw Eicelea fiddle with her data pad as it loaded the information they obtained from the bridge of the ship. Neither of them understood their languages, which proved to be a bit of a challenge, they all gotten used to Odelea translating everything. Hand gestures will have to do, nothing’s ever easy, Phylarlie thought as she gestured to them to hurry up and activate the wormhole.

  Eicelea approached the oval wormhole gate, where a small holographic interface appeared. She used the information that was displayed on her data pad’s screen and interacted with the interface. It took several minutes in which Phylarlie observed the recovering wraith on the floor, most of them had been the pirates that had ambushed them weeks ago, three of them were humans, though their bodies had been altered with cybernetics.

  The dark room lit up as the wormhole activated, white light beamed through it like an opened door in a dark chamber leading into a brightly lit room. Phylarlie looked through and saw a box-shaped room. Ella still in control of Avearan’s body was inside in some sort of spaced out trance like state.

  “Trin, I got it from here,” Phylarlie said. “Get them out of here and see if there is anything Odelea can do for them.” She pointed to the moaning humans and pirates practically free from the wraith transformation.

  Trin agreed without hesitation and teleported everyone back up to the Dark Star, leaving Phylarlie, Eicelea, and Vynei behind. Phylarlie entered stealth and continued to look through the wormhole to get a better idea of what was awaiting her. She saw a human woman stand in front of a large group of wraiths inside. They followed her as she walked back and forth talking to herself. It was a puzzling and worrisome sight.

  Phylarlie counted how many vials of the serum she had. It wasn’t enough to deal with the entire wraith inside, Odelea was going to need to come up with a wider delivery method for the gene therapy. It was only going to be a matter of time before those inside realized the wormhole was open.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Leviathan, near Oyuri, Barnard’s Star system

  The amount of mental energy required to perform the jump from Sol to Barnard’s Star was daunting.

  Most of the Leviathan’s psionics hit the floor at once and had to be dragged off to the infirmary to rest and recover. Not all the psionics aboard were required to use their minds for the jump drive to work. Gayir's head was clear as he was tasked with the primary shipboard psionic duties on the bridge. Di’aria ignored the call to action all out, amongst
many of her other duties aboard as she prepared for her mutiny. Noylarlie was required to have her thoughts active for Yominv had an assignment for her as the two stood next to each other on the bridge

  “Shut down the wormhole,” Yominv said, his eyes remained forward at the windshield with Oyuri in the distance.

  Noylarlie’s gem glowed brightly before her face for several seconds then dimmed as it slipped back between her breasts. “Done,” she said.

  “Good that should strand those who wish to follow the new empress,” Yominv said. “I want you to reopen a wormhole linking this system to Sol so that our loyal followers can join us.”

  “As you wish . . .” she mumbled.

  Further assisting the order wasn’t part of her plan, neither was blowing her cover. In the end she had to look like a loyal crew member until the time was right.

  “Not just yet however,” Yominv said. “I don’t want the humans following them through it. Give it time. Once they confirm no one is in pursuit. It shouldn’t be long since the imperial fleet loyal to the empress should still be within their system and drawing the most attention.”

  Yominv dismissed her from their meeting. The cybernetics on her body flashed as she performed a jump port back into her quarters, it was much faster than walking and using the elevators, the size of the ship was still mind-blowing to her, it was that size that gave her newfound allies an advantage. Most of the crew spent countless minutes searching through the decks of the ship looking for their enemy that vanished. They knew the ship was huge with lots of hiding places and that it would be some time before they were located.

  Noylarlie’s quarters were of course one of the places that wasn’t searched and never would be. They feared her power more than the intruders themselves. Besides in their eyes she was a trusted crew member or why would she protect them? All the more reason for her to reluctantly assist Yominv whenever he asked for it.

  The humans, Chris, Sarah, and Hijinks rested on the floor while their humanoid machine stood with its hands behind its back. Zhinbryo and Onatiasha sat together with Di’aria. Noylarlie could tell they were all ready for their next move. Anxious fighters determined to make that last push for victory, no matter the cost.

  “He ordered me to end the wormhole linking Uranus to Paryo,” Noylarlie said to them.

  “Did you?” Di’aria asked.

  “I didn’t have a choice, he would have found out eventually from the order loyal ships still in the system.”

  “We should have taken the ship when he had the chance.”

  “We still do as most of the psionics aboard should be resting because of the strain put on them from the jump to this system.”

  “She’s right,” Onatiasha said. “We got our advantage back again.”

  “Where would we go if we take the ship now?” Di’aria said.

  “I can make a wormhole for our escape,” Noylarlie said. “The problem is the Abyssal Pelican, its close by and controlled by the Celestial Order just like this ship.”

  Onatiasha cringed. “If someone from the Leviathan calls for help during our attack.”

  “The Pelican will fight us, and may follow us through the wormhole,” Noylarlie said.

  “We’ll need outside help, someone to keep the Pelican at bay,” Di’aria said.

  “Well figure it out fast,” Noylarlie said as she took a seat on a mangled chair. “Yominv wants me to create a new wormhole back to Sol in a few hours.”

  EVE the human machine said in Hashmedai. “A new wormhole?”

  “Yea.”

  “That is perfect,” EVE said in a monotone. “I can contact the UNE fleet and inform them to assist us once the wormhole is established.”

  Earth Cube, Geneva, Earth, Sol system

  Two days had passed since the attack on Mars, and the new year was around the corner. Nobody was calm despite the sudden withdrawal of the imperial fleet, a withdrawal that had many analysts confused as why one third of the fleet including the massive dreadnought Leviathan went in an opposite direction to that of the rest of the main fleet. The UNE kept a close eye on the larger fleet as it traveled back to Uranus as predicted as that’s where the wormhole was. A wormhole that was no longer there according to sensor scans and ESP, the news of that sparked many conspiracy theories and wild speculations across the internet and news headline articles.

  Headlines Chloe would have to read later as her transport lowered toward the rooftops of Earth Cube. She was surprised to see how well the area had recovered from the incident two months ago. The bridge connecting Earth Cube to the rest of Geneva was fully restored along with Earth Ship One. It was as if there was never a battle, and it gave her hope. If technology was advanced enough to make repairs that quickly, then what of the rest of the world that was razed by the Hashmedai during the invasion twenty-two years ago? Chloe’s visit to Earth after her return from the stars was brief and limited to military operations. Once this is over I need to take a nice long tour of the world.

  Chloe exited the transport as her face enjoyed the gust of Earth wind that blew through her short brown hair. It was good to be back, this time for real. Technically it was Vaish who got to return to Earth with Chloe’s memories in the driver’s seat. But this? This was physically the first time she truly returned to Earth after leaving. An elevator took Chloe down into the lower levels of Earth Cube, and into EISS HQ deep inside the artificial island Earth Cube rested on in Lake Geneva.

  She was led down a hallway into a holding cell where Vaish had been kept for questioning. Questions she refused to answer until Chloe was present. Inside the holding cell were a dozen armed soldiers with eRifles and Vaish the Linl woman who still looked exactly like Chloe, only with long brown hair that was hanging low. She was sitting on a chair in the middle wearing a white prisoner jumpsuit and made direct eye contact with Chloe as she entered.

  Chloe stood next to the entrance while staff inside the base began to search for the memory crystal that contained her memories. Vaish’s green eyes from time to time looked up toward the ceilings and walls with a spaced out look on her face. The woman was distraught, and not together, it was tough for Chloe to look at and watch what seemed like her in a dazed and warped state of mind, probably wondering where she was? And who are these aliens that have her captured.

  A staff member entered the holding cell a minute later, and in his hands, was the oversized data crystal contraption, complete with the sharp spikes on the side of it. Vaish’s memories were at last going to be restored.

  “Let’s put her out for this,” Chloe said. “That shit is fucking painful—”

  Vaish quickly got up from her seat and snagged the device out of their hands. The armed guards were quick to react as they raised their rifles and took aim at the disturbed woman.

  “Easy guys!” Chloe said as she came to Vaish’s defense. “She probably has enough of her memories to know what it is,” Chloe said to Vaish in the Radiance language. “You do know what that is right?”

  Vaish tapped a sequence of buttons on the devices tiny holographic interface and confirmed. “Yes.”

  “It’s a painful process. Do you want us to sedate you?”

  “No,” Vaish said as she held the device up to the side of her head and the sharp prongs stretched out. She pushed them through her head and into her brain.

  “Well that settles that,” Chloe said in English.

  Vaish didn’t scream, cringe or show any other signs of discomfort as the transfer process continued. Chloe checked her inventory of sedatives in the meantime, several had been used yet she had no memory of it. Vaishea was holding up her part of the deal. The anticipation consumed the whole cell like fresh heat from a newly activated sauna. Everyone was on edge as the transfer process finished and beads of sweat rolled off their faces. Nobody knew if Vaish was going to be friend or foe with her memories restored.

  “Welcome back, Vaish,” Chloe said in Radiance as she sat with her. “That is your name, right?”

  Vaish
spoke as she ripped the device out of her head, and tossed it away. Blood dripped down from the side of her head, it didn’t faze her, not even when it began to slowly splatter on the table, like drizzling rain. “I have many names, Vaish was my birth name. My Linl name before the union consumed my people.”

  “I have some questions to ask you.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Vaish said, grinning at Chloe. “Major Chloe Vaughan, of the human Extrasolar Defense Force. Former marine of the United States.”

  “I see you know a lot about me, that answers that question. Why did you force my memories into your body? Then fake ones into my own?”

  “I needed to protect myself.”

  “From who?”

  “Not who. Whom.”

  “Go on, don’t be shy.”

  “There was a Celestial Order base on Foicanta, your people got too close.”

  “We kicked the hornet’s nest, I figured that part out.”

  “The Whisper ordered me to infiltrate the base and figure out what was going on. We were expecting to find information as to who in the union was under their control in the system. What I discovered was something different. The order unlocked secrets of the Lyonria and their knowledge of aether space.”

  “Interesting, but it doesn’t explain why you took over my body.”

  “The Lyonria have been awakened thanks to the order.”

  “The fleet, you said something about a fleet has awoken when we first revived you. I’m guessing that fleet isn’t human, Hashmedai, or Radiance.”

  “Whoever is giving the Celestial Order orders had connections and interests in aether space and there was a major operation being conducted on Rasi and Oyuri. The Abyssal Explorer was the only ship en route to that system and I needed to confuse the order as to where I was fleeing to next.”