Annals of the Keepers - Rage

by Christiaan Hile

  Kason approached the podium.

  He didn’t hesitate on his remarks, given the anticipation in the room.

  “Here is the latest on Jens. Please hold all questions.”

  The lights dimmed and a sector map opened in holo-light.

  “The points you see here are where the Kryth have carried Jens’ body. The pattern indicates their ship movements are sporadic in nature. Sometimes backtracking. Probably to elude anyone who may be following.”

  “Paranoid kizards,” Maddox muttered.

  “I wonder why?” Keelen followed.

  Chuckles issued around as everyone knew what Keelen meant.

  The Kryth were stunned when the Reavers attacked that dilapidated structure, taking Ramek from them; leaving them with numerous dead, a lost interrogation structure, and a shattered destroyer. It’s no wonder they were taking extra precautions.

  Kason continued, “The last point there, in sector 319/B, is where they stopped. No other movement has been noticed for the last three days. This could be another secret base like the one we rescued Ramek from.”

  “Yeah, and I still owe them some payback for that,” Ramek chided.

  “I second that,” Kercy followed Ramek’s comment, shooting him a smile.

  “Any questions?” Kason asked.

  Ramek was first up, not surprising. “Do we have confirmation on his trace if he’s alive?”

  “No. The Deus antennas did not pick up any specks from the last reading.”

  “What about this location they’re at? It seems to be outside Kryth space on the far end of their borders,” Keelen asked.

  “It looks to be an old observation and scientific outpost of theirs. The Kryth have not been active here for the past decade. There is no infrastructure left to support military operations.”

  Keelen followed up, “What of the ship type they transported him in?”

  “It looks to be a mining dredge. We believe its a cover to get him to another research facility where they can experiment on him.”

  Ramek shot out of his chair. “We can’t let that happen, boss.”

  “And we’re not,” Kason responded, staring at Ramek until he sat back down.

  It was Kercy who spoke up next. “So, are we going on another rescue mission?”

  Everyone stopped moving and froze, awaiting the answer.

  “I don’t know yet,” Kason finally said.

  “We have to, boss,” Ramek appealed.

  “Why wouldn’t we?” Keelen asked the question which was on everyone’s mind.

  Kason looked down to contemplate the question before he answered. “Because we don’t have all the intel on the situation. The Kryth are more paranoid than ever. They’re aware of us now. We have to be careful here.”

  “What intel?!” Ramek shouted out. “We know where he’s at and they don’t have a military base there, so it should be quick and easy. We need to go now. Timing is everything,” Ramek pleaded.

  “There is no question on if we’re going, Ramek, it’s when. We’re working on a contingency plan as we speak. All of you will be notified as soon as we are a go. Remember, even the Kryth won’t be fooled twice. We need to proceed with caution; but, when the time is right, we will go to get him. Understood?”

  All nodded their agreement.

  “Now, we have some prep to do. Make sure all weapons and items are checked. Let’s get the basics out of the way so, when we’re ready it will be quick and easy like Ramek said. Everyone is dismissed.”

  The team members began parting from the briefing room.

  Kason gathered up his materials and headed for the door.

  Kercy approached.

  “Kason.”

  “Yes, Kercy?”

  “I just wanted to say that Ramek is just anxious to rescue Jens.”

  “I know. We all are. Ramek and Jens were close friends, closer than any of us. Ramek feels responsible that he couldn’t save his friend that day. I understand his emotions and passion in this matter.”

  “I’m worried about him.”

  “I appreciate your sentiment regarding Ramek. He’ll be fine,” Kason finished, the continued with a smirk, “And you should be more worried about what he’s going to do to the Kryth when we go to rescue Jens.”

  Kercy smiled. “I can only imagine.”

  “Has he shown you the new toy he’s building just for that occasion?”

  “Ah, yeah. I’m just glad it’s not some sort of rock-throwing contraption.”

  Kason laughed, “He’s still not letting that go, is he?”

  “Nope. He reminds me every chance he gets.”

  The two laughed, continuing their conversation as they left the briefing room.

  Data Cell 13

  Commander Parejas engaged a tactical sphere.

  The domed room flashed and was awash with interstellar space. A backdrop so grand and surreal, one would think they had just been ejected out and adrift in the background of stars.

  The platform the top officers of the Ordinance stood on was suspended in the center of the great chamber.

  The only one of the group to be agape at what they saw was Captain Strathin. “Everything keeps amazing me. You all have been busy since my absence, haven’t you?”

  Commander Takkar was first to respond. “We are always busy around here. Can’t stop being busy.”

  Chuckles issued around the platform from all the men.

  Parejas stepped up.

  All amusement among the men died down.

  The commander glanced at Takkar and smiled. He then met the eyes of his Ground Force Captain, Nevlen Bossarios. Finally, he acknowledged Kason Bender with a nod. “Gentlemen, I see everyone is here.”

  “Is Captain Temin not joining us, commander?” Kason asked.

  “No. She’s heading out on an assignment at the request of our new allies, the Cuukzen. It seems the Kryth are unhappy with their subjugated race who just signed an alliance with us, so they’ve sent a regional magistrate to persuade them and the Cuukzen asked for our assistance in the matter before they arrive.”

  Concern came over Kason. “Is she taking the fleet?”

  Parejas smiled. “I’m glad you’re so concerned about her, captain.” Shenta could see Takkar holding back a comment which was about to leave his lips. Shenta continued, “I’ve sent her out with the new command ship, the Sol’s Edge, for a shakedown run. I figured she could show our support to our new friends.”

  “What about the Kryth?” Kason asked.

  Captain Nevlen spoke up, “I have an assault group of my men with them.”

  Parejas gave Nevlen a curt glance before answering, “The Kryth are sending one ship. The rest of their fleets are still in Dranneous Kor, minus the one near Mydian.”

  Kason was going to pose another question as he glanced at Nevlen, but the commander cut him off with a look.

  “I appreciate your concern, Kason, but Captain Temin can take care of herself. The Cuukzen are not warriors, so the Kryth won’t send many numbers to remind them who is in charge. Shall we continue with our briefing?”

  Kason gave a solemn nod in agreement.

  “That aside, we have a new threat, gentlemen,” Parejas said as he activated a podium in the center of the platform. “I will start the briefing of what we’ve learned from Captain Strathin’s return.” He punctuated his reference to Strathin by giving Nevlen and Kason, who were still staring at one another, a stern look.

  A wormhole burst forth in a tremendous simulation about the room, just like the one the Orion’s Rage and the Flashpoint encountered near the Montis Rift Nebula.

  Flashing high above in the four-dimensional simulation, the date 206 P.E. appeared, then faded amongst the star background.

  With another blink, the First Fleet appeared as it had back then. The fleet looked as if it was in the room, within arm’s reach of the officers surveying the recreation around them.

  Parejas could see a smile appear on Captain Strathin’s face, seeing
his ship as it had looked all those years ago.

  “During the skirmish with a Vrae convoy, the Tyr and three of her cruisers were lost as the wormhole materialized,” Parejas said, paraphrasing from the Annals of Time that all present company knew. “It was here that they were lost, trapped and adrift in a river of dark matter, not knowing where they would come out of the anomaly.”

  The tunnel of light vortexes around the Tyr and her ships spun and twisted together, as the wormhole wisped through space-time.

  The room whirled in vibrant greens and bright white before opening and dumping the Tyr and her ships into unknown space.

  The commander turned to Captain Dexxer Strathin. “Captain, the briefing is yours.”

  “Thank you, commander. Questions are welcome throughout my portion of the brief. These next events were recreated from the Tyr’s data banks.”

  The captain stepped up to take control of the center console.

  The next image showed the Tyr and her escort ships stationed near the wormhole with a massive yellow energy beam that ran from the center of the anomaly to a gigantic alien space station far away.

  “As you can see here, when we exited the anomaly, this is what we encountered. It’s the way the Gashnee control the opening of the wormholes. They use a massive energy beam formed at the station there, which draws the energy from a nearby star and uses the star as the power source and the station as the anchor. This is when the Gashnee attacked us. We didn’t know what was happening; they came out of nowhere. We still don’t even know where we were.”

  Images of Gashnee ships appeared above the room and attacked the Tyr and her escort of ships.

  The Ordinance officers looked on as the battle commenced.

  The three ships defending the Tyr were destroyed in a matter of seconds. Then, the Tyr herself began to be attacked.

  The Human ship maneuvered at full speed out of the area, with the Gashnee engaging from behind.

  Shields and armor began to fail as heavy barrages of Gashnee weapons slammed into the Tyr’s hull.

  “We were doomed by this unknown enemy, or so we thought,” Strathin stated. “This is when a race called the Srel Taan engaged and destroyed the Gashnee ships pursuing us. They came to our rescue in this unknown space we found ourselves in, befriended us, and helped us survive in what we later found out was the Andromeda Galaxy.”

  Everyone looked around at each other in stunned expressions, minus Parejas and Captain Strathin.

  Takkar spoke up, “That’s one hell of a long trip, captain.”

  “Without the wormhole, yes. But, with the wormhole, it was mere hours,” the Tyr’s captain replied.

  “So, this is how the Gashnee control wormholes; with stars?” Takkar asked.

  “In part, captain,” Strathin answered.

  The holo-image of a massive diamond-shaped ship flashed above.

  This enormous ship headed towards the wormhole.

  It’s width and height was the same as the open maw of the anomaly it was about to enter.

  “They use a star’s energy, such as this one, along with the station to control the energy density or the negative-mass output which interacts with the dark matter string to open the worm hole.”

  “Glad I asked,” Takkar muttered.

  Kason smiled at his friend’s remark.

  Captain Strathin moved the controls to zoom in on the spiraling anomaly. “To keep them open, they use these Mag ships. Each of these ships can put out an equaling electromagnetic energy field to that of the variance. This will keep them open as the ships traverse the wormhole until they reach the other end.”

  “The wormholes seem easy enough to take down though. The Rage didn’t have a problem with closing the anomaly,” Takkar said.

  “Correct, Jesan,” Parejas responded. “This is their weakness, as long as the Mag ship has not exited the anomaly on the other end.” Shenta turned to Captain Strathin. “Do I have that accurate, Dexxer?”

  “Yes. The first Mag ship to exit the wormhole will be the anchor point. Once this occurs, a powerful force-field is erected around the anomaly. Then, the wormhole is protected to allow their fleets to emerge.”

  Parejas deactivated the simulation. “Gentlemen, this is how they plan to retake the Milky Way Galaxy.”

  Shenta looked at his command staff for a moment. He made direct eye contact with each one to let them know that what was about to be said was of utmost importance.

  “What this all comes down to is our survival; the survival of all who oppose the Gashnee. They plan to invade the galaxy and retake it per their prophecies,” Shenta stated.

  The sentence wasn’t even finished before Nevlen spoke up, “Is this the same race that befriended us and allowed us to escape the Kryth with the technology they provided?”

  “Yes, and your point, Captain Bossarios?” Parejas acquiesced.

  Nevlen continued, “Shouldn’t the prudent steps be to understand the situation concerning the Gashnee and have a patient strategy before charging forward and attacking a peaceful race?”

  Kason smirked at Nevlen. “You have a soft spot for them, Nevlen?”

  “I’m serious here,” Nevlen exclaimed. “We need to be cautious with whom we make enemies. For all we know, they had mistaken us when the Flashpoint confronted them near the wormhole. What if they cause us no harm once they know who we are? I mean, they didn’t seem too difficult as Captain Bender’s team took out their soldiers and Captain Takkar dispatched their ships. Do we need to go to war when the Kryth are on our doorstep?”

  “Those weren’t their soldiers, captain,” Strathin said in a quiet voice.

  Strathin looked over to Parejas to see if he should continue and was motioned by the commander, “Captain Bossarios, what Kason and his team encountered was just their scouts, not their warriors.” Strathin turned to Takkar. “And you, captain, those ships you engaged near the wormhole were pathfinding ships, not their main battle fleets. You don’t know the severity of the situation here, Captain Bossarios.”

  All eyes were on Dexxer Strathin.

  The captain of the Tyr dropped his glance from the others looking on.

  His posture changed as a deep exhaustion and sorrow came over the captain from so long ago.

  He spoke in slow, measured words, “I don’t mean to put down your capabilities and what you two have accomplished; but, what is about to come will send fear throughout the mightiest of soldiers, including those present here. You haven’t seen true terror until you’ve witnessed the utter brutalities and injustices of unbridled evil.” Strathin took a deep breath before continuing, “I’ve seen the face of malicious barbarism on a galactic scale. The horrors the Gashnee have brought before my own eyes will darken your souls.”

  Tears began to well up in the captain’s eyes.

  His pain could be felt by all present.

  A man who had been tormented by the memories of time and space trembling at the mere thought of his past encounter with the Gashnee, wondering if he would see it again.

  Strathin’s lips quivered. “It happened a few years after the Srel Taan helped us escape.” His dry throat tried to swallow. “We were told the stories of the dying race and how they were driven out of the galaxy by the Kryth. The Sarel Taan told us of the Gashnee prophecies; that they would die out only to be reborn and to reclaim what was theirs.” Strathin looked about the room and at the walls, regaining his composure. “This is not the same race that once controlled the Milky Way. No. They are different now. They’ve changed. They’re monsters.”

  Strathin walked to the center podium and reactivated the simulation.

  Smoke and fire filled the room. Cinders and ash swirled around.

  Innumerable screams of terror and agony reverberated in the chamber.

  The eerie feel of death drenched the room as an unknown alien city was washed in blood.

  “The race you see here, or what is left of them, were mining slaves for the Gashnee. They mined the ores and crystals the Gash
nee use to build their massive machines that will lead them to the reinvasion of the galaxy of their origin. It was a death sentence for a race that once lived in peace on this planet.”

  “What happened to them?” Kason asked.

  Strathin looked at Kason. “They were all massacred. The leaders had planned to sneak workers out of the mine to get out from under their brutal masters, but the Gashnee found out what they were going to do. The Gashnee called the assembly of twenty thousand workers from the main camp. They then lined the workers’ children up and, with their parents watching, cut each of their children’s throats. The Gashnee made sure the parents could not close their eyes or block out the cries and screams they heard. Their only comfort came from the tears in their eyes which blurred the horrific events before them. The Gashnee then made the parents clean up all the gore before they could bury their own children. After that, the Gashnee cut them all down, burning all their cities and bringing in a new slave race to complete the task of mining the ore they needed.”

  Tears once again welled up in the captain’s eyes. “I witnessed this butchery. Neither I nor the Taan could do anything to stop it. We were powerless. You have not seen any evil in our own history on such a scale without any regret to life such as this. Even the Kryth stand upon higher moral ground than the Gashnee do.”

  The burning image of the alien city faded out amongst them.

  The room was quiet.

  “They must be stopped at all cost or we will meet the same fate as countless other civilizations that stood before the Gashnee.”

  “This is our new threat, gentlemen,” Parejas concluded, seeing Captain Strathin drained from his reciting of the horrible events he had witnessed. “You will have the complete briefing at your disposal.”

  “What do we know of their invasion plans?” Takkar asked.

  “I’ll explain, Dexxer,” Shenta said to his old friend. “We are anticipating an attack within the next few years to a decade, maybe sooner. And with the recent event with the Flashpoint, I would say it’s sooner than later. They will use these remaining wormholes to reenter the quadrant.”

  “What about the other quadrants?” Takkar queried.