Michael and Vargev both struggled to their feet, blackened, bloodied, and in Vargev’s case in agony, nevertheless they were still somehow alive. Both had injuries, Michael still hadn’t fully recovered from the crash, Vargev’s arm and ribs were in a bad way.
Kinraid, Jacobs, and another medic came to their aid. “Jesus, that looks like some fight you two had over there,” Kinraid said as Jacobs and the other medic checked them over.
“ We need to get both of you to sickbay, straight away.” Kathryn said.
After a short pause, Michael asked, “what’s the prognosis, doc?”
“ You’re bleeding internally again, colonel Vargev here has third degree burns to his left hand and upper forearm, as well as multiple fractured ribs.”
“ We had best do as the good doctor says,” Michael said.
“ You won’t get an argument from me.”
The sun was just beginning to rise over the distant Valcasian mountains, the shrill darkness of night was gradually giving way to the pale light of a new morning, and ending what was the worst night of bloodshed of them all.
Barely a fifth of the troops posted to defend the main gate had made it, many were wounded and the battlefield triage centre was swamped. The desperate cries of the dying could be heard as faint wails blown across the wind. The gate itself looked like a scene from hell. The still smouldering wreckage of three apollo battle tanks were strewn across the road at odd angles, casting a pall of thick black smoke over the area. The fallen forms of three dominator assault walkers were also ablaze, adding to the scene of desolation.
The sole remaining dominator to survive the onslaught was ‘big Bertha’ its assault cannon completely empty of ammunition. It sported several rents and tears in its armour, and its hydraulic ram was slick with the Krenaran blood it had spilled during the night. Its bullet proof cockpit glass was completely shattered, inside stood its pilot, corporal Greystoke, tired, battered, and with a deep ragged gash that seeped blood down the right side of his face. Still, he stood victorious.
Later that day Vargev was released from the med-bay of the Liberty, a few sessions in the dermal regeneration booth had largely healed his horribly burned arm. His ribs were healing gradually, the doctor had injected a drug known as protenase directly into the bone marrow of his ribs, to accelerate normal bone growth. However, they still plagued him and would for at least a week, so Kathryn had advised him.
He was quietly sat on the collapsed form of a concrete column, silently taking in the desolation, hundreds of good men lay dead or dying defending this place, the base was virtually in ruins due to three nights of intense fighting. The constant smell of smoke and death hung in the air, he watched as wounded soldiers piled up the broken bodies of the dead, once proud men reduced to charred, bloodied corpses.
To Vargev, this was the true horror of war, not the fighting, but the aftermath. Counting the cost and feeling everything his men went through, because he was one of them.
With a deep sadness he knew that his men, although they fought valiantly, every last one of them. They were in no position to mount an effective defence for a fourth night, Echo base had fallen and his heart sank.
I will make sure that people will know what had happened here. Those five hundred men held out against a vastly superior Krenaran force for three whole nights and gave every last breath to defend a key supply base against these monstrous Krenarans who would destroy it.
A small tear ran down the grizzled commando colonel’s cheek.
A young Lieutenant, by the name of Cole approached him and saluted, Vargev tried to return the salute, however he couldn’t, whenever he lifted his arms his ribs felt like they were on fire, the lieutenant understood however.
“ Sir, it’s the Krenarans, they have stopped their attack and one of them wants to speak with you.”
He snorted, so now they want to talk. It’s not enough that we’ve been pummelled into oblivion, now comes the inevitable surrender and you’ll all be spared plea; predictable.
“ Thank you Lieutenant, tell him I’ll be right there.”
Michael was still in sickbay and had fallen unconscious again, his condition had worsened. Kathryn monitored him closely, fearing for her captain’s life, he couldn’t die, he was Michael Alexander, the heroic captain of the Liberty, and one of the most famous and decorated officers in the E.D. F, and she needed him.
Vargev returned to the sickbay of the Liberty to watch over his friend, Kathryn had informed him of Michael’s condition and Nikolai spent some time at his friend’s side, silently watching him, the damned Krenaran can wait.
Finally, he said softly. “I’ve got to go now old comrade. I shall see you soon.”
With that, Vargev left sickbay and Michael alone while Kathryn carefully monitored him.
He walked with Cole to a raider parked not too far from the damaged Liberty.
“ I think you’re going to have to drive lieutenant,” Vargev smiled weakly as he carefully clambered inside.
“ Yes sir,” Cole drove the raider as carefully as he could manage across the bumpy grassy field, and back onto the broken tarmac of the road, he then hung a right and drove straight towards the main gate.
A small group of Krenarans had gathered amidst all the wreckage, they were armed, several infantrymen and a couple of commandoes had their weapons trained on them.
Cole parked the raider fifty feet or so further up the road, and they made their way down towards the small group. Looks as though these Krenarans were captured or surrendered, Vargev thought. However he remained silent, wondering how this would play out.
The lieutenant spoke first, “this is the highest ranking officer currently present here; his name is colonel Vargev.”
“ So this is the legendary Colonel Nikolai Vargev, you have garnered a fierce reputation amongst my people. I am Dalvosh, second in command of Krenaran forces after lord Alax. Your men have fought with honour and bravery, and have earned the respect of the Krenaran people.”
“ Err… Thank you.” Vargev replied, still waiting for them to demand his surrender.
“ Let this day mark the end of hostilities between our peoples, both sides have already lost far too much in this needless war,” Dalvosh continued, nodding his head almost reverentially at Vargev, who was dumbfounded, could this be the first peaceful Krenaran, or was it just a ploy.
“ First, have your men lower their weapons,” Vargev said. “Then we’ll talk.”
“ If we do that, your men will kill us,” Dalvosh replied.
“ My men are trained to obey my orders.”
“ As are mine.”
Both sides readied their weapons; long, tense seconds passed as Vargev eyed Dalvosh who at eight feet tall was considerably shorter and leaner than Alax, but still towered over the colonel nevertheless, who was attempting to discern any trickery in those deep red eyes of his. Dalvosh did likewise, he knew full well that Vargev was a deadly and implacable enemy of the Krenaran people and would not hesitate to kill them all, given the chance. Or that was what he had been taught.
Both commanders almost simultaneously ordered their men to lower their weapons, after a few more tense seconds both groups lowered them. The sense of mistrust between the two commanders was still thick in the air, and they continued to eye each other suspiciously.
“ What about the thousands of slaves you took during the war?” Vargev asked, remembering that horrible time at the now ruined Agemman colony.
“ As soon as an official ceasefire treaty can be drawn up, your slaves will be returned to you. The Krenaran empire no longer wants this war, it has cost us too much already with the loss of two of our greatest leaders, together with the loss of ships and troops.”
“ We can draw up an unofficial ceasefire right now, for a permanent treaty to be made official it would have to be signed on Earth in front of the E.O.C. A council, or in the presence of an elected member. However, our communications have been knocked out.”
“ Then this is what we must do,” Dalvosh said.
The remainder of both forces were assembled at the bombed out wreckage strewn remnant of the main gate. Hundreds of men and Krenarans had gathered, although the men were largely outnumbered by the lumbering Krenaran warriors.
Vargev looked up into the clouds of the early morning sky, and let out an audible sigh of relief, the war was finally coming to a close. As he continued to contemplate the sky, he could just make out the contrails of shuttles and transports descending through the clouds towards their position. His sense of relief grew rapidly as the myriad of small craft headed his way; help had finally arrived.
The few commandoes left alive and the troops of the ‘Hells angels’ all let out a great cheer, throwing their fists into the air as the shuttles landed in the debris strewn fields between the abandoned Krenaran trenches and Echo base itself, the sheer sense of jubilation from those men who had fought so hard to defend this place was palpable.
More troops, E.D. F naval personnel and Solarians disembarked the numerous craft and headed to where Vargev, Dalvosh, and the survivors were gathered.
What appeared to be a high ranking naval officer approached them flanked by a few soldiers of his own.
“ Captain Ericsson of the Tempest, I’m assuming we are here to accept the surrender of Krenaran forces in this area?”
Vargev took a long look at this ‘captain’, who the hell was he to waltz in here like this. Finally he said, “no surrender captain; peace, this Krenaran here.” He motioned towards Dalvosh, “is the new leader of the Krenaran military, he wants a ceasefire.”
“ What about the war still going on across the other colonies?”
At this Dalvosh finally spoke up in his deep, rasping voice, sounding very much like his throat had a bagful of shale tipped down it. “Not just here, everywhere. We no longer want this war, it has cost us too much already,” he repeated for the captain’s benefit.
“ Peace, well I’ll be damned, I’ve forgotten what peace feels like.” Ericsson replied with genuine surprise.
Vargev allowed himself a slight chuckle.
“ I’d better get back to the Tempest and contact E.D. F command, let them know of the situation, although my ship has taken quite a beating itself.”
The captain excused himself and made to leave the men when Vargev stopped him. “If you don’t mind me asking captain, how did you get here?”
“ It’s a long story colonel, I’ll fill you in when you get onboard.”
Aboard the damaged Liberty, Ensign Kathryn Jacobs was carefully monitoring Michael Alexander, he was still unconscious and his condition was steadily getting worse.
Commander Quinn Kinraid was stood over the captain’s bed, watching. “After all tat he’s done; all tat he has accomplished. To just give up and die now like this, is just a waste,” he whispered to the medical officer.
“ He’s a fighter; he’ll pull through. He has to.” A small tear ran down the ensigns gentle features.
He had been haemorrhaging internally and had gone into anaphylactic shock, Jacobs had brought him round, kept him alive somehow. He was losing twelve pints of blood in three minutes, and if Kathryn hadn’t operated as early as she did, he would have been dead by now.
The heart monitor continued its slow beeping, the sound thudded into their ears as the two of them silently stood over the frail form of their captain, they waited anxiously. Beep… beep…beep.
“ We have done all we can, it’s up to him now.” She whispered.
“ Keep me informed ensign,” Kinraid said as he left the small sickbay, although inside the pain he was feeling at watching his captain and friend slowly slipping away like this was tearing him apart, he had to keep some emotional distance, he was in command now, and the crew, albeit severely demoralised was counting on him.
Arriving on what remained of the shattered bridge, he touched a control on his wrist comm. “lieutenant Logameier to the bridge.”
Johnson Logameier had his head inside an access hatch of the primary power conduit of the ruined main engine, trying to affect some emergency repairs, when his wrist comm. buzzed; startling him, he bumped his head against a rather hard piece of insulation plating, cursing and rubbing his throbbing head, he answered, “on my way.”
A few minutes later and he arrived back on the bridge, walking up to Kinraid he asked, “yes commander?”
“ I need an update lieutenant, how are the repairs coming?”
“ Slowly sir, she has taken a heck of a beating, power should be restored to the main engine within the hour, although it would be several more hours or even days before we are able to use it. As for the damaged launcher, we are not going to be able to repair that until we reach Delta base, and there has been significant hull damage from the crash.”
“ Will she be able t’ make orbit?”
“ In her present condition, no commander; we’ll burn up trying.”
“ Damn,” Kinraid replied with an exasperated sigh, “how long?”
“ We’re looking at weeks, sir.”
The flicker of an idea began to form in Kinraid’s mind, “wait a bloody minute.” He whispered, more to himself than to anyone else. “We need a major base for repairs, right?”
“ Yes sir.”
“ Well, what in the name o’ god have we just bloody well crashed into?”
“ Commander, the people here are more accustomed to building military vehicles and munitions, not naval systems.”
“ T’ey are E.D. F engineers, some o’ them will have expertise repairing vessels o’ the fleet, they have a whoppin’ great fleet yard in orbit and transfer men to and fro all the time.” Kinraid was becoming more excited, a plan was coming together and he knew it.
“ All the shipyard functions are in orbit, and we don’t know if the E.D. F fleet was successful or not without communications.”
“ True, but tat’s not to say that it can’t be done now is it,” Kinraid replied, “I’ll get Kalidis, he’ll be able to help us, so he will. Lieutenant, you’re with me.”
Logameier sighed, still unsure as to how this would work, however Kinraid was in command now, and he had no choice but to follow his orders.
The two officers made their way towards the port access hatch and exited the ship, sealing the hatch shut behind them.
Once they stepped out onto the windswept field, they appreciated first hand the sheer scale of the devastation. Ahead of them in the distance, the smashed loading area lay crumpled and smouldering. The once tall command building reduced to nothing more than a pile of rubble.
Soldiers bearing the wounds of bitter fighting milled around performing their duties as best they could.
The two men made their way onto the main road, still littered with debris and the occasional smashed vehicle; medics carried soldiers on stretchers, horrifically wounded and pumped full of morphine and other pain killing drugs.
Kinraid wondered if ever there was a hell, this looked like it.
As they made their way towards the main gate, they were greeted by more scenes of horror, the wreckage of blasted apollo’s and dominators lay smouldering across the road. Medics were everywhere trying to cope with the sheer backlog of wounded and dying. Acrid smoke still hung like a pall in the air, accustomed to breathing the recycled, purified and filtered air of the Liberty, it nearly choked the two officers.
Either side of the road, rows upon rows of body bags were laid, each one inscribed with the occupants name, rank and serial number, a grim reminder of the horrible reality of war; people died.
They made their way over to the most senior person they could find, a young sergeant. The two officers saluted the sergeant before Kinraid asked, “Excuse me, do you know te’ head o’ this facility?”
The sergeant looked at them rather strangely, “I’m rather busy here commander.” As he set to the task of bandaging another soldiers wounded forehead.
“ Ahem, I’ll ask again,” Kinraid replied, his tone growing more menacing. “Do you fecking know, who is in charge o’ this fecking shit-hole!”
Startled by the sheer force in Kinraids words, the sergeant straightened immediately, and addressed him properly. “Err, yes commander, it’s General Kalidis sir, he is overseeing repair operations, number 3 tank factory.”
“ Thank you, would you know where that is now?” Kinraid replied.
“ I’ll have someone take you,” the sergeant suggested.
He shouted over to an even younger looking man, “private! Take a raider and these two men over to number 3 tank factory.”
“ Yes sergeant.” The private motioned for Kinraid and Logameier to follow him to a nearby unoccupied raider. This one was surprisingly undamaged, quite a rarity.
“ If you would like to follow me.”
“ Diplomacy works every fecking time,” Kinraid whispered to Logameier next to him, who quietly smiled.
The three of them climbed into the small transport, the young private who looked barely in his twenties started the engine and the 4x4 sped off towards the tank factory.
“ Your part of the Liberty crew aren’t you?” The private asked curiously, noting their different uniforms.
“ Guilty as charged,” Kinraid replied.
“ You guy’s are like regular Robin Hoods, always popping up out of nowhere and giving the Krenaran’s a bloody nose before sodding off again, if you beg my pardon.”
“ Really?” Kinraid and Logameier looked at one another, genuinely surprised at this. “Well this time it was us who got the bloody nose, otherwise we wouldn’t have carved out a four hundred meter trench right through that field over there.”
After a few minutes the Raider pulled up in front of number 3 tank factory, with a gentle squeal of its brakes.
The building had taken some light damage during the fighting, a few smashed windows here and there, and the occasional dent and hole in the steel cladded exterior, all-in-all it had emerged remarkably well. Being situated in the far south west corner of the base far away from the main fighting had also helped its cause.
A formidable queue of smashed, torn and blasted vehicles had formed outside however, occasionally a patched up raider or an apollo would rumble its way out towards a parking area at the west side of the building.
As the three men made their way inside, they found that it was a hive of activity. Almost two dozen damaged vehicles were parked up in bays forming two long rows, four engineers to every vehicle. Bright welding arcs flashed continuously, casting deep shadows across the interior and sending sparks splashing across the floor. The buzzing of grinders and cutting equipment sounding like a swarm of angry bees about the place.
A tall, thin man was barking out orders in the centre of the vast tank factory, “Johnson how is the rotator on that turret, Finlay, double check the inlet manifold on that raider. Jackson, that dominator should have been finished half an hour ago, come on people, these machines aren’t going to fix themselves!”
Kinraid and Logameier made their way over to this man, the private who was accompanying them said, “I’ve got to get back to the main gate.”
“ Yeah, see you kid.” Logameier replied.
“ Quite some operation, you have going here,” Kinraid said to the man.
The man stopped and turned to face them, Kinraid immediately noticed that the bridge of the man’s nose was taped, and he sported a hefty black eye. The commander thought nothing of it, most men around here bore some sort of war wound. “Needs to be, nearly thirty damaged vehicles a day are coming through here, the names Kalidis.”
He shook both of their hands, suddenly a loud bang reverberated throughout the bay, and one of the raiders let out a cloud of white smoke.
Kalidis spun around to the source of the noise. “Idiots, you didn’t check the fuel cells for ruptures!”
“ General, we need your help,” the two men asked in unison.
“ Join the queue, a lot of people need my help right now.”
“ You don’t understand, it’s not a vehicle we need help with.”
The general looked at them with a hint of disdain. “All I know is your holding up this operation.”
“ It’s a ship,” Logameier said.
This got the general’s attention, he stroked his chin thoughtfully, “a ship, here?”
“ It’s the Liberty, she’s crashed and we really need her to be able to break orbit.” Kinraid replied.
Dalvosh, Vargev, and Captain Ericsson boarded the E.D. F shuttle, its gravitic engines gently whined as they powered up. Gradually the small craft lifted off, and headed towards the upper atmosphere. While in flight, Ericsson told them about the battle above the planet.
“ It was the biggest fleet action of the war, one hundred and eighty eight E.D. F and Solarian ships took part, we were led by Admiral Sato of the Hermes. When we arrived in-system we found nothing, not even the Solarian ships could find any trace of Krenaran activity.” Ericsson pressed a few controls, levelling out the shuttle as it continued its ascent through the clouds.
“ As we moved into docking range of the Echo base shipyards, we picked up the signatures of no less than three hundred and forty one stealth ships, led by six command carriers.” Ericsson sighed as he remembered the awful sight of that enormous fleet bearing down upon them.
“ To begin with the battle did not go well, they decimated us, we lost over fifty ships in the first few minutes. The Solarian ships acquitted themselves well, when the first of the Krenaran command carriers fell to a bombing run from the Hermes bombers they began to go on the defensive.” He said, a smile beginning to form on his lips.
“ The Liberty, and a handful of Solarian ships accounted for another. That really put the wind up them, the Krenarans fought back, but now they were panicking and disorganised, they became easy pickings for the Solarian battlecruisers who tore into them, although the Hermes itself never made it.” Ericsson paused for breath, smiling at the memory of the destroyed Krenaran ships littering space around his ship. “The remaining Krenaran ships retreated and abandoned the planet. We were in no shape to pursue however, so we re-grouped at the shipyards. With barely fifty ships left, most of which were heavily damaged.”
“ Jesus,” Vargev said in reply, “and I thought you would never come.”
The shuttle shuddered slightly as it cut through the high altitude winds before gradually breaking into orbit, leaving the emerald green atmosphere of Gamma IV behind. The stars and faint outline of the shipyards were gradually revealed to them.
As they neared the vast shipyards, Vargev got his first glimpse of the sheer scale of the carnage that had taken place here.
What remained of the E.D. F/Solarian fleet was clustered around the newly re-taken shipyards, in the distance hundreds of damaged, broken hulls that were lost in the fighting floated lifelessly, mere corpses of the proud vessels they once were. It was an enormous graveyard, a testament to the scale of the fighting that had taken place here.
Many of the ships that had survived the battle bore the scars of their ordeal. Where once sophisticated weapon systems had been, there was only twisted blackened metal, with only the occasional spark from shredded power conduits revealing the extent of the damage. Ruined plasma drives trailed bright plumes of energised plasma into space.
Vargev felt a small tinge of guilt at his impatience at questioning whether reinforcements were forthcoming in the battle on the surface. As the shuttle began its approach toward the station, he now saw that things had been just as desperate up here, he had no idea.
“ Shuttle tempest one-niner to echo base, requesting permission to dock,” Ericsson spoke into his console.
“ Confirmed, clearance granted for bay four,” came the reply.
The shuttle altered course slightly, veering around one of the gigantic upper docking pylons of the base, before landing in one of the smaller docking areas built into the hull of the station. Once the shuttle had landed, the bay was re-pressurised and a small access ramp descended from the craft.
Vargev stepped out onto the wide, flat hangar bay. He noticed the bay was packed with various other shuttles transferring the wounded and supplies to and fro from vessels still unable to dock with the station. The comparatively enormous Dalvosh then emerged from the shuttle, ducking his reptilian head as he did so, Ericsson was the last to leave the shuttle as he powered down the small craft.
“ What’s the casualty count?” Vargev asked.
“ Don’t know; final figures still haven’t come through yet.” Ericsson answered, “best guess puts it at around forty four thousand dead.”
As they made their way through long corridors choked with wounded naval personnel, Vargev couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity for what these men had gone through.
Dalvosh simply stomped his way through the jeering crowd, uncaring and unheeding of these men’s plight, he knew they hated him, he had been their most hated enemy for the better part of a year, and the feeling was definitely mutual.
After what had seemed like an eternity, they finally arrived at the vast command section of the facility. There, stood in the recessed centre section of a huge circular room were twelve captains all talking amongst themselves. As the three of them entered the room they turned their attention towards them, studying the blackened, weary face of Vargev, then Ericsson, finally they turned to the huge form of Dalvosh and eyed him with a look of pure hatred.
“ What is a Krenaran doing on this station captain Ericsson?” They asked pointedly.
Dalvosh spoke up, “I have come to establish peace with our two races in the form of a non-aggression treaty.” The words sounded hollow, “though we may never be friends, both of our races have already lost too much in this war, and that is why it must end now.”
“ Impressive words Krenaran, but why should we trust you?” One of the arrayed captains replied.
“ A Krenaran warrior stood in a Terran built station advocating peace should be all the proof that you seek. That, and my master Alax is dead, he was the head of the Krenaran military. Now I must take his place, which grants me the power to speak for my people.”
One of the captains then gave a command to a younger naval officer manning a station on the upper periphery of the room. “Open a communications channel, I want a direct channel to alpha base, get me Admiral Mason.”
“ Yes captain,” the officer replied.
After a brief pause, Admiral Mason’s wizened features appeared on the viewer of Echo base.
“ Yes captains, what is it?”
“ Echo base has been secured admiral, and the Krenarans wish to discuss terms to end the war, they want peace in the form of a non-aggression treaty.”
Mason’s brows furrowed noticeably, “you have proof of this?”
Dalvosh stepped forward towards the viewer, “My name is Dalvosh, I am the new head of the Krenaran military and lord Alax’s successor, I am standing on one of your stations in peace, surely this is the proof you seek.”
“ My god!” The admiral gasped, and promptly paused the communication.
“ What is he doing,” Dalvosh asked Ericsson, quizzically.
“ Probably wondering if he’s dreaming,” the captain replied.
A long pause passed, before Mason’s face re-appeared on the viewer again.
“ A small team of E.O.C. A diplomats have been scrambled from Sicarius, they are carrying the official documents for the treaty, it will be five days until they are able to reach you.”
“ That will be acceptable,” Dalvosh nodded.
On the surface, Kinraid, Logameier and Kalidis were busily assessing the damage to the battered Liberty.
Kinraid turned to the general, “do ye’ tink ye’ can get it into orbit again?”
“ Normally I’d say no, but with what’s been happening around here lately I’m not so sure. It needs the hull fractures sealing, as well as the destroyed launcher, otherwise it will just burn up as it attempts to get out of the atmosphere. We’ll have to rig up a new main engine, we’ll need to contact people in orbit for that.”
“ How long do ye’ tink it’ll take?” Kinraid asked.
“ It should be ready in about a month.”
Kinraid gasped. “A month!” then sighed, “understood, I’ll organise te’ Liberty repair teams to assist ye’.”
Over the course of the next week, shuttles went to and fro, ferrying supplies from the echo base shipyards to the planet below. Engineers swarmed over the Liberty, repairing hull fractures and replacing damaged systems. The Solarians lent their aid also, and donated a Solarian Ionic drive system, from one of their own damaged escorts.
Kathryn Jacobs spent most of the week monitoring the weak form of Michael. Towards the end of the week his results showed a marked improvement, her excitement began to increase as she knew the captain was beginning to pull through, finally four days after being rushed to sickbay, Michael awoke and looked visibly stronger.
“ What’s our status?” He asked weakly.
“ Always down to business aren’t we, well the repairs are continuing, and the Krenarans are due to sign a peace deal tomorrow which will officially bring an end to the war. It’s being broadcast all over E.O.C. A space, there’s street parties and massive celebrations being planned all over the outer colonies. Its almost like all of humanity is breathing a giant sigh of relief.” Jacobs replied, her smile could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of the war being over.
“ How long until we can get back into orbit?”
“ Not for another three weeks at least,” Kathryn replied as she studied his vital signs monitor for any signs of change.
“ So are we just supposed to sit on our hands for three weeks,” Michael retorted, growing a little angry at the situation they had found themselves.
“ We don’t have a choice, besides you’re not cleared to leave sickbay yet anyway.”
“ The hell I’m not!” Michael shouted angrily, sat bolt upright, and made to leave.
“ I could order you,” Kathryn replied calmly.
Michael thought about this for a moment, before finally conceding and laying back down on the hospital bed, “I guess so, besides the last time I went against your orders, it nearly killed me.”
“ Well, no one was expecting you to go gallivanting off and fight a huge Krenaran monster straight from your hospital bed, were they?”
“ Gotta have something to do during the day,” He winked and smiled.
Ensign Kathryn Jacobs simply tutted, “you’re unbelievable,” before going back to her duties.
The next day Michael was feeling something like his normal self again, and had been cleared to leave sickbay. Kathryn had prescribed him light duties only for the next few weeks, and plenty of rest. Suddenly a one hundred and forty nine metre long ship seemed awfully small when on the surface of a planet. He went to pay Kinraid a visit outside of the ship, partly to escape the confines, and partly to find out what he had missed, finding that Kalidis was with him.
“ Glad your up on your old feet again cap’n,” Kinraid said with his customary Irish twang.
“ Thank you, what’s our status report,” Michael replied getting straight down to business.
“ The engineers have sealed around forty percent of the hull fractures, and the main breach where the launcher was has been sealed. The new Solarian engine is fitted but not powered up yet.”
Michael looked upon his ship, its matt black silhouette glinted dully in the light from the morning sun, flashes from welding arcs lit up parts of its dark hull. He and this ship had been through more than their fare share of scrapes together, and he was confident she could get through this one as well.
“ This ship is much more than just a ship, it has become a symbol of hope and strength to the E.D. F; it needs to be back in orbit doing what it does best.”
“ My engineers are working flat-out trying to get it spaceworthy again as soon as possible. We know how important this ship is to the E.D. F,” Kalidis replied.
“ Good, so what’s this peace deal the Krenarans are going to sign anyway?”
“ Apparently, te’ Krenarans want to sign a non-aggression treaty with E.O.C. A, tey are saying that both sides have already lost too much in this war. An E.O.C. A diplomatic team are arriving in about tree hours time,” Kinraid replied.
“ Think they’ll keep it?” Michael asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“ I’m not really sure to be honest; yeah, the Krenarans were te’ ones who started this whole thing in the first place. But te’ new head o’ the Krenaran military, this Dalvosh, isn’t like Axus or Alax, it looks like he just wants to put ‘tis whole sorry mess behind him and go home I tink.”
Michael laughed, “well I’ve heard it all now, a Krenaran who’s tired of fighting. That’s a new one on me.” Looking across to the heavily damaged spaceport and half-demolished loading area, he noticed that it was completely clear of Krenarans, they must have cleared out, linked up with the rest of them outside the base, he thought.
“ The negotiations are to take place in a temporary headquarters, set up in number 1 tank factory, apparently it is more historically fitting.” Kalidis said, rolling his eyes.
Michael harrumphed, “well is it now,” a sarcastic tone to his voice. “I hope that history remembers that the vast majority of the atrocities in this war were caused by them, Aurelias and Sigma XI spring to mind.” He remembered those horrific attacks during the first days of the war, thousands perished within minutes. Michael reserved a special hatred for these Krenarans, for what they did to mankind, and for the deaths of his wife and son. The war had embittered him, and he didn’t think the hatred would ever pass. In fact, he didn’t really want it to. He changed to subject to bring him out of his dark thoughts, “anyway, what happened to those Krenarans on the spaceport?”
“ Tey retreated as soon as the fighting stopped, and re-joined the main force outside te’ gates,” Kinraid answered.
Later that day a single Washington class heavy cruiser glided slowly towards the orbital shipyards, the lights from the facility played along its newly upgraded high powered upper laser turrets, and equipped with under-slung torpedo launchers underneath its sloped almost pyramid like frontal section as used by the Ghandhi class destroyers. Considerably smaller than the huge Danitza class battleships, its weapons lacked their range. Up close, the Washington class could unleash a powerful salvo of its own, and those torpedoes made it a dangerous foe for any ship to face, its weaknesses where that it could be picked off rather easily from distance as, being a heavier ship, it lacked the manoeuvrability of the faster Ghandhi class, and could be vulnerable to enemy bombing runs.
Captain Ericsson was temporarily in command of the shipyards, and watched the relatively tiny ship approach through the viewer, when the face of a young and rather inexperienced officer appeared on the screen displaying the rank of commander. The captain was shocked that the man had attained that rank so early, he appeared to be barely mid-way through his twenties. Just a sign of the times, he thought.
“ E.D.F. S Hornet requests permission to dock,” a rather authoritarian sounding voice came over the speakers.
“ E.D.F. S Hornet, you are cleared for docking on bay 6, please be aware that some of the docking facilities are under repair, station operations will inform you of the current interim docking procedures.” Ericsson had to say this to any ship wishing to dock with the station after the Krenarans took out all the docking ports during the battle, some were more damaged than others. Fortunately, work teams on-board had temporarily repaired bay 6.
“ E.D.F. S Hornet understands and confirms, glad to be here echo base.”
The communication ended, replaced by the image of the Hornet slowly advancing, the two smaller inter-system boosters of the three it possessed, briefly flared as they gently accelerated the ship for an instant before powering down. As it approached bay 6, small controlled bursts of reverse thrust from its forward thrusters, slowed the ship. Until finally with a deep ‘thunk’ its forward docking arm magnetically clamped onto the docking port.
A full diplomatic team arrived on the station, escorted by a squad from the 69th Sicarian guards.
Ericsson, Vargev and several other commanders had made their way to the docking area to formally greet the party.
“ Welcome to echo base, ambassador…”
“ Lataf,” the ambassador corrected in a rather rude fashion. Vargev was already taking a dislike to this man, but said nothing.
Without a word the assembled men all began the walk to the nearest elevator.
“ Where is the Krenaran representative?” he continued.
“ He is in private quarters on-board the station, under guard. We have prepared an area to facilitate negotiations on the planet surface below,” Ericsson replied.
“ Very good, I shall prepare for the negotiations immediately.”
“ Quarters have been made available for your stay on deck 18.”
“ Thank you, captain.”
With that, the ambassador left the assembled men, and headed to the elevator, with his entourage in tow.
“ Who the hell does that guy think he is?” Vargev asked.
“ An ambassador,” Ericsson replied.
“ I hate ambassadors, especially pricks like him.”
Vargev and Ericsson returned to the command centre and waited for Lataf’s signal, after several hours of waiting around for the ambassador, and Vargev becoming ever more frustrated with the man, the signal finally came that he was ready.
Ericsson and Vargev both returned to Lataf’s quarters and met up with the escort party and the ambassador. “We will escort you to your shuttle, if you would follow me,” Ericsson said.
“ Of course.”
The twelve strong party all made their way to the nearest available shuttle, Ericsson ushered them all inside, before taking a seat at the flight console. He keyed in a control that opened an internal comm. channel to the command centre.
“ Shuttle echo six requests permission to disembark.”
“ Shuttle echo six, permission has been granted, good luck captain,” the reply came over the speakers.
“ Thank you, echo six out.” Ericsson replied, we’re going to need it, he thought.
The small shuttle gently lifted off and banked left as the gigantic hangar bay doors opened, revealing the inky blackness of space and the twinkling of distant stars. The silent forlorn wreckage of the starship graveyard confronted them as its inhabitants drifted aimlessly amongst themselves.
The shuttle accelerated out of the hangar bay and down towards the emerald hue of gamma IV far below. It began to shudder gently as the friction from the upper atmosphere buffeted the small craft, gradually it punched through the atmosphere and descended through the cloud cover, revealing to the occupants the scattered metallic wreckage, deep craters, and scarred landscape from the intense battle fought a week earlier.
“ My god, what a mess,” Lataf said indignantly.
Vargev harrumphed, but said nothing, instead using discretion as the better part of valour, never mind that hundreds of men had fought and died on that mess as he called it.
Ericsson bit his lip hard, feeling exactly the same way as Vargev did.
“ Is there a problem captain?” The ambassador asked, baiting him.
“ Well actually…” Ericsson went to say, then stopped in mid sentence. “No, no problem.”
“ Good, captain.” The ambassador said with just a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
Ericsson silently berated himself for allowing the ambassador to get to him, it would not happen again. There were bigger things to consider here, like the peace treaty.
Dalvosh was due to arrive in a separate shuttle, and would be flanked by several Krenaran guards at the peace talks, making up the Krenaran contingent, this had already been arranged by Ericsson while they waited for Lataf to prepare.
The heavily damaged buildings of echo base were clearly visible now as the shuttle began its final approach into an area cleared of debris for their arrival. The gravitic engines thrummed into life, kicking up a plume of dirt and dust as they slowed the shuttle before it gently rested on its three hydraulic landing legs. A ramp gradually lowered as the shuttle powered down and the occupants all filed out into the damp and muddy surface.
The party slowly made their way towards the temporary headquarters set up for them, as they neared general Kalidis approached them, his nose still taped from the battering he took from Vargev, saluted and introduced himself to the ambassador. “I am General Georgiannos Kalidis, commander of this facility.”
“ What is left of it,” the ambassador replied.
“ If you would like to follow me I will show you to the negotiation area.”
“ Thank you general.”
Kalidis joined the party and they continued on their way to the headquarters, just as the shuttle containing Dalvosh became visible over the horizon, before gently landing alongside the ambassadors own shuttle. The huge Krenaran emerged flanked by the shuttle pilot and about four or five E.D. F troops, Vargev couldn’t make out the exact number as they were now some way off.
The ambassador’s party approached the makeshift headquarters, there were two rather battle weary lieutenants guarding the entrance, who, nevertheless stood to attention and saluted the ambassador appropriately. Lataf however ignored the salute and pushed past these lieutenants, entering the wide, well lit interior.
This infuriated Ericsson who could hold his silence no longer. “You could have returned their salute ambassador,” he said pointing back to the two guards stationed on the outside of the building.
“ Why? I am not E.D. F, I am E.O.C.A.” Lataf retorted matter of factly.
“ It’s about common courtesy and respect damnit! Many people have died here to make this possible.” Ericsson shouted, beginning to lose his temper with the flagrantly disrespectful ambassador Lataf.
“ And they will be honoured appropriately captain, my place is at the negotiating table, not at a battlefield.”
At that Ericsson could say nothing.
The remainder of the ambassador’s retinue all filed into the room, a few men were already there pointing small hand held cameras at them for the benefit of the outer colony news service, who were taking a deep interest in the talks. As they took their seats along the perimeter, Lataf and his aides sat at a large oval table which dominated the centre of the room, the ambassador began to quietly look over the terms of the treaty once again as he awaited Dalvosh’s team.
Michael Alexander entered the room also, after taking time out from overseeing the repairs to the Liberty to be present at the talks. He sat down next to Vargev.
“ Glad your back on your feet comrade,” Vargev whispered to him.
“ Thanks.”
“ How are the repairs going to the Liberty?”
“ Not bad, considering I’ve got half the engineers of the base crawling over her, trying to get that bucket of bolts spaceworthy.” He said with a wry smile.
A few minutes later and Dalvosh’s team also entered the room, there were two other Krenarans who had joined him, as well as four E.D. F troops who took up positions behind the Krenarans at the opposite periphery of the room.
Lataf was nervous and it showed. He had seen pictures of these aliens broadcast on the news during the fighting, but had never seen one up close until now. The sheer size, piercing red eyes, and reptilian features of these brutes that towered over him, was disconcerting to say the least.
Summoning all his inner strength and diplomatic training, he offered a rather shaky hand in friendship.
The Krenaran bowed his head as he shook it dutifully, Dalvosh’s hand dwarfed his own and his handshake was as firm as iron. Lataf winced as his hand felt like it was being crushed and his arm shaken out of its socket.
Vargev quietly chuckled to himself in the corner of the room.
There was a printed hardcopy of the treaty on the table, as well as a digital copy stored on a data navigator, which Lataf held.
“ The negotiations are now in session.” Lataf said trying not to betray a hint of his nervousness as his aides made notes, another held a small recording device.”
Dalvosh silently nodded, his eyes fixed on the ambassador. The news crew trained their cameras on the men.
“ The terms of the Krenaran surrender, and subsequent ending of the E.O.C. A — Krenaran war are as such. Number 1, all military operations against E.O.C. A, its military arm the E.D. F, and E.O.C. A citizens and property must immediately cease.”
“ I understand and agree,” Dalvosh replied calmly, betraying no emotion.
“ Secondly, all Krenaran military assets, including troops, vessels, and related military equipment must immediately leave E.O.C. A territory.”
Dalvosh agreed to this also.
“ Thirdly, all human and Solarian prisoners of war must be returned to the closest E.O.C. A or Solarian colony world or facility where they can be returned to their appropriate homes and families.”
Dalvosh also agreed to this, although somewhat reluctantly.
“ There will be a three light year demilitarised zone, between E.O.C. A and Krenaran territories, extending 8 light years out from the Agemman colony and then across the north eastern tip of the connaught sector for another 15 light years as shown in your copy of the treaty.”
An aide passed Dalvosh a copy of the treaty, which he eyed for a few moments before nodding in agreement.
“ Any deviation from these terms will be considered either as an act of hostility towards the E.O.C. A government or an outright act of war.”
Lataf gave Dalvosh and his aides some time to peruse the terms of the treaty.
An aide spoke up, it was Dalvosh’s second in command, “you must not sign this pitiful excuse for a treaty Dalvosh, we can still win this war.”
“ Quiet Briax!” Dalvosh snapped, “If we lose the entire Krenaran race to win this war, what then? Who would be left to celebrate the great Krenaran victories? We cannot fight both the Terran and Solarian empires together.”
Briax remained silent.
“ A prudent course of action,” Lataf said.
“ I sign this treaty not for your pitiful sake, your race disgusts me. I sign this treaty for our son’s sake, and their son’s, and for the future of all Krenarans.”
Dalvosh took the stylus and signed the declaration, Lataf then passed the Data navigator around the table, each aide in-turn then signed the treaty as a witness, before both Dalvosh and Lataf were handed their own copies. Eventually the hard copies were signed as well, Lataf picked up his own copy to return back to E.O.C. A headquarters on Earth.
“ Today we have made history, let it be known that peace can be achieved on the field of battle and let peace return to the galaxy once more.” A great loud cheer, reverberated around the room following this proclamation, at last, after almost a year of bitter fighting, the war was finally over. Humanity could get on with the task at hand, re-building and exploring the galaxy once again.
As the deliberations gradually drew to a close and the cameras switched off. A Solarian thrust his way into the room, Michael immediately recognised the former first officer of the Liberty. “Televis what are you doing here?”
“ I’ve come from my ship in orbit with urgent news. Solarian intelligence has just made contact with a Krenaran agent. He killed three Solarian agents and severely injured a fourth. Before the last Solarian died, he revealed the Krenaran’s codename as Lathiel.”
“ So the Krenarans propose peace, and then knife us in the back when we are not looking,” Ericsson gave Dalvosh a look of disgust.
The two Krenaran aides rose up from the table, “we will tear your puny head off Terran!”
“ Quiet!” shouted Dalvosh, “sit down all of you!”
The angry parties did as instructed, all looking towards the Krenaran commander, the human contingent with a look of barely concealed rage and betrayal, yet they listened anyway.
“ I know of the agent known as Lathiel, he was our secret weapon, trained to be the perfect assassin, he is equipped with a biomechanical gland that secretes a specially formulated combat drug only recently discovered, the drug is called morphos x. It is what allows him to physically alter his appearance to match any humanoid upon contact. He is one of the most vicious and deranged of all Krenarans.”
“ Did you send him Dalvosh!” Vargev shouted, “because if you did, I swear your brain will coat the walls of this room!”
“ How dare you accuse me of this!” Dalvosh shouted back, the two Krenarans made ready to charge Vargev and the humans present in the room, who all readied their weapons in response.
“ Where is this assassin now!” Michael shouted over the din of angry raised voices. The Krenaran war threatened to re-ignite again at any moment.
“ Last known location places him on Orion, reports suggest he is heading for Terra,” Televis replied.
“ There would be only one reason why Lathiel would be given an assignment on Terra,” Dalvosh said. “He plans to kill your president.”
“ Orion is one weeks travel away from Earth,” Ericsson said.
“ Hell of a good time to activate your assassin Dalvosh, most of the E.D. F fleet is here, the main intelligence facilities at Sigma XI you destroyed eight months ago. No one to track him and no one to catch him,” Vargev said accusingly.
“ I swear on my honour as a Krenaran, I never activated Lathiel!” Dalvosh shot back.
“ Then who did!” Ericsson shouted.
“ Alax must have activated him before hostilities ended, he is the only one who would have had the authority.”
“ And we killed Alax over a week ago,” Vargev said.
“ So effectively we have a rogue agent, who doesn’t know the war is over, on a mission to kill the President of E.O.C.A.” Ericsson pointed out.
“ That’s about the size of it,” Vargev replied.
“ If this Lathiel succeeds in his mission, it could destabilise the entire peace process, war could break out all over again,” Lataf announced.
“ Is the Faeriath ready?” Ericsson asked.
“ Negative, my ship is badly damaged from the battle, as is the remainder of the Solarian fleet. The rest of the Solarian warhost is at Agemman, Aurelias, and Eidolon, too far away to catch him in time.”
“ Which leaves…” Vargev said.
“ The Liberty; we can catch him,” Michael filled in for him.
“ The Liberty’s too badly damaged, it won’t make it.” Ericsson argued.
“ Captain, I believe in the Liberty, and her crew. She’ll make it,” Michael countered.
“ I hope she does captain, for all our sakes,” Lataf said.
“ I’m coming with you,” Vargev said looking at Michael.
“ As am I,” Dalvosh also announced.
“ What about your men here?” Briax said.
Vargev swung his Armschlager menacingly, its deadly barrel pointed directly at the Krenarans reptilian face. “I insist.”
With that, the three of them dashed out of the makeshift headquarters towards the grounded Liberty.
Michael was first to touch his wrist comm. “Alexander to Kinraid, I want the Liberty prepped and ready to go, right now.”
“ The repairs aren’t even complete cap’n, the new main engine isn’t even tested yet.”
“ Too late commander we’ve run out of time, it’s an emergency, Alexander out.”
Vargev touched his wrist comm. too, “all commandoes in the area, I want a full squad, prepped and ready to ship out in five minutes, form up at the Liberty, Vargev out.”
The three of them continued running, along broken tarmac roads and muddy wild grassland to where the Liberty rested.
Michael touched his wrist comm. once again, “Michael to Liberty, prepare to lift off as soon as we are aboard.”
“ Understood cap’n,” the reply came.
The three of them reached the Liberty a few minutes later, where they found a full ten man squad of E.D. F commandoes stood to attention and a bewildered Logameier. “What is going on? Kinraid’s just told me that the Liberty is taking off, repairs are nowhere near complete.”
“ Sorry Lieutenant, it’s an emergency, we have to take off immediately.”
“ Then where are we going?”
“ Earth, to stop an assassination plot against the president of E.O.C. A himself,” Michael replied.
General Kalidis caught up with them, out of breath, he wheezed. “You’re going to need me with you, to make sure this bucket of bolts holds together.”
“ You’re welcome to come along,” Michael replied as he climbed inside the port access hatch.
“ Think your man enough for it Kalidis?” Vargev asked, then followed it up by simply saying, “click, click.”
Kalidis frowned at the Russian and climbed onboard, followed by Dalvosh.
“ Commandoes on me!” Vargev barked out his order.
The colonel and the remainder of the commandoes climbed onboard also.
Michael was soon on the bridge, in his somewhat muddied naval uniform. The bridge itself was still damaged in places and still bore many of the scars of the damage the ship had sustained.
“ Status report,” Michael asked as he took his seat.
“ We have main power at seventy percent, ninety percent emergency power; all stations report ready,” Kinraid replied.
Michael noticed that Eldathar was seated in the pilots chair again, “good to have you back ensign,” he said as he placed a reassuring arm on the Solarian’s slender shoulder. “Now let’s get this show on the road!”
“ Gravitic engines to maximum,” Kinraid said.
Outside of the ship the grass swirled, whipped up by the force generated by the Liberties powerful gravitic engines propelling the ship skywards, a loud whine became audible as the anti-gravity motors struggled to keep the Liberty airborne.
“ Retract landing legs,” Michael said.
Eldathar responded, and the landing legs slowly retracted into their horizontal positions, matt black panels slit into position over them with a gentle creak.
“ Main engines at one half power, we don’t want to tax them too much just yet.”
“ Understood captain,” Eldathar replied.
As the Liberty continued to ascend skyward, Televis, Ericsson and Lataf silently watched from the doors of the tank factory.
“ Godspeed,” they said in unison as the Liberty flew out of sight.
“ Status of main engines,” Michael said as the Liberty continued to climb through the atmosphere.
Kinraid constantly kept his eye on an engineering systems console at the rear of the bridge. “Main engines are okay so far, but at this speed we won’t break orbit.”
“ Increase power to eighty percent,” Michael said growing tense, the Liberty had to break free from the gravitational pull of Gamma IV, if not they were all doomed, and so was the E.O.C. A president.
“ Increasing power,” Eldathar replied.
The ship began to shudder as the gravitational forces and atmospheric pressures of the planet began to take their effect, Kinraid made his way over towards his usual seat and strapped himself in, this was proving to be a rather bumpy ride.
“ We are approaching the upper atmosphere; main engine at seventy percent power and rising,” Eldathar informed the bridge crew.
Down in engineering Kalidis and Logameier were working furiously. “Secure that panel” Logameier barked out over the noise. “Keep an eye on the status of the main engine in case it heats up too fast or gets too hot.”
Solarian engineering crews literally ran from console to console, checking over vital systems.
The outer hull began to heat up as friction from the violent upper atmosphere of the planet continued to increase, the shuddering and swaying of the ship rose in its violence, flames scorched its outer hull as the atmospheric forces increased in their intensity.
Some of the plating used to seal the breach of the Liberties destroyed torpedo launcher began to buckle and tear under the pressures exerted upon it. The violent shuddering continued relentlessly as the small ship climbed higher and higher into the upper atmosphere of Gamma IV, sparks erupted from damaged circuits and consoles exploded, sending glass showering across the bridge. Michael secretly prayed that his damaged ship would hold together.
“ Engines at eighty percent!” Eldathar struggled over the noise.
The ship continued to race through the atmosphere, finally the forces threatening to tear the damaged ship apart became too much, and the plating around the breach of the torpedo launcher sheared off completely, flames poured into the damaged section which had already been sealed off as a precaution, however now heat was building rapidly inside as super heated plasma from the intense heat whirled around the sealed off section. If something wasn’t done quickly, the bulkheads would collapse and the whole ship could be lost.
“ Forcefield! Seal that breach now!” Michael shouted over the cacophony of consoles exploding, violent shaking and sparks flying across the bridge.
A forcefield shimmered into life protecting the damaged section from the ravages of the atmospheric pressure, for now at least.
“ Forcefield is in place cap’n, but I don’t think it’ll hold for long!” Kinraid shouted back.
Sweat trickled down the sides of Michael’s face from the rising heat and desperation, “just a few more seconds,” he whispered over pressed lips. The shuddering reached a fever pitch, and just for an instant, Michael, along with most of the bridge crew closed their eyes.
The shuddering had ceased, it had become calm once again. Slowly Michael opened one eye, then the other, confirming they were still in one piece. All that was visible on the viewer was starlight, they had done it, they had broken free of Gamma IV. He let out a loud sigh of relief. “I would consider that a successful test,” he said.
Kinraid nodded his approval and a broad smile opened across his features, more at his thankfulness at still being alive than anything else.
“ Set course for Earth, bearing zero-three-five degrees, elevation zero; best possible speed.”
The Liberty leapt into plasma drive; destination Earth.
Ian. J. Smethurst
E.D. F Chronicles — E.D. F resurgent
10. Earth race.
Location: Delta base.
Date: 18th October 2071.
Time: 21:44 hours.
The Krenaran assassin known as Lathiel casually walked towards the vast docking area of Delta base, replete with buggies and carts whizzing to and fro, loading and unloading supplies from ships that had come from all over E.O.C. A territory.
Although the majority of military vessels were taking part in the fighting around Gamma IV, some were still present providing a defence for the station and the colony world of Orion IV far below, others were undergoing emergency repair work, obviously damaged in combat in some other area of E.O.C. A space.
The majority of ships docked were transports, carrying vital medical and other supplies to civilians caught up in the huge conflict.
There was a small warship that the Terrans called a Ghandhi class destroyer, however he ruled out hitching a ride aboard it, it was doubtful he could overcome its crew, and even if he could, he wouldn’t be able to control all the ship’s systems himself.
A nice, small, inconspicuous transport would suffice for this mission. The trick was getting on-board without being detected however.
Three E.D. F naval officers walked straight past him, not paying him any heed whatsoever, just a few minutes before he had killed Ensign Butler with a knife straight through the back, nice and quiet, it had allowed him close contact with his body which he touched and then activated his crodes gland buried deep beneath his thick ribcage. It secreted the top secret combat drug known as morphos x, the drug caused him extreme pain as his body altered to take on the form of any humanoid he touched, but he had learned to cope with it.
He was his races ultimate weapon to bring down the puny Terrans once and for all. His mission was the elimination of the E.O.C. A president, a Terran by the name of James Rushfeldt.
The hated Solarians had managed to expose his mission on Perseus; he had barely escaped alive. Worst of all, the Solarian agents had managed to send a communique to Solarian command before he had disposed of them.
The Terrans would be waiting for him on Terra, he would have to be careful.
He made his way over to one of the docked transports, being careful not to attract any attention, a lone officer was standing guard at the docking port.
Transports didn’t have as tight security as the warships of the E.D. F navy, this transport with a crew of only twelve, allowed him to take control of the ship with minimal difficulty. This small oversight was going to cost the Terrans very dearly indeed.
The young officer addressed him, “eello ensign, what are you doing here?”
“ Ensign Butler transferring from the E.D.F. S Avenger,” Lathiel replied.
The officer looked perplexed, “for what reason?”
Lathiel had to think quickly, “as an engineering assistant.”
“ Do you have your I.D. card?”
“ Yes, here you are.” Lathiel produced the I.D. card he had taken from the real ensign Butlers body.
The officer studied the card, before placing it into a reader to his right.
He used his Krenaran training to calm his nerves, but still readied himself in case anything should go wrong. After what seemed like an eternity, the officer finally said. “O.K. your all clear, welcome aboard the transport blue-177 ensign.” He handed him back the card, as Lathiel went to embark on the transport, the officer asked. “Where are your transfer documents?”
Panic gripped Lathiel, “Still being processed, you know how it is,” he replied meekly.
“ Yeah don’t I, you’re probably right, thanks ensign,” the officer said as he nodded knowingly at him.
Lathiel inwardly sighed with relief as he quietly stepped onboard the transport, once inside he found the confines tight and uncomfortable for his frail Terran body. The corridors were narrow and for the most part, badly lit. The transport seemed quiet, he surmised that no one else was yet onboard.
He walked up to a small computer display, the screen was cracked in one corner and the system looked ancient, however he did manage to access the crew manifest.
The transport was commanded by a Lieutenant Pryce, obviously the E.D. F didn’t place as high a value on its transports as it did its warships, which would be why only a junior officer commanded the vessel, another costly oversight.
He exited the crew manifest and consulted the deck-plan, the ship had eight decks, four of them were given over to the enormous cargo hold. The remainder of the decks were taken up with the bridge, crew quarters, a small mess area, engineering, and a tiny medical bay as well as the main engines and thruster systems.
By consulting the deck-plan further, Lathiel noticed that there was a very small armoury located on the third deck, directly adjacent to the entrance to the cargo hold.
Exiting out of the manifest, he immediately began making his way there, quickly locating the cramped elevator to deck three. Once there he walked the length of the corridor, finally coming upon the door to the armoury on his left. There was a tiny swipe card reader to the side of the steel door.
Lathiel swiped the stolen I.D. card through the slot in the reader, and hoped it would give him access.
Success, a green light blinked on and he quietly entered the armoury.
There in the small room, barely larger than himself, and only dimly lit he noticed a rack of ten dusty looking pulse rifles and two heavy machine guns, together with a dozen or so combat knives.
It was prudent of the E.D. F to arm their transport crews, especially since the spate of Krenaran attacks on E.D. F transports in the last month, attempting to disrupt E.D. F supply lines. However, this time it allowed an assassin of the calibre of Lathiel to gain the upper hand.
The Krenaran agent weighed up the weapons, he had learned that the heavy machine guns were more powerful and had a faster rate of fire. However the pulse rifle was more accurate at range, he picked up a pulse rifle and grabbed two combat knives.
Lathiel had no idea whether he would actually use the pulse rifle or not as he was a master of close quarters fighting and could use those twin knives to devastating effect anyway.
After retrieving the weapons, he left the armoury as quietly as he entered and headed for the bridge.
After making it back to the elevator, he keyed in deck 1 for the bridge and was soon on the spartan looking command centre of the entire transport. He could blow the docking latches and launch the ship right now if he wanted, however a renegade ship like that would attract far too much attention and peregrine fighters would be swarming over his bow within minutes, better to wait until the transport gets under way officially.
As he looked over this dingy excuse for a command centre he noted the different stations, there was the rudimentary ships pilots console, the operations station, and the rather worn captains chair. Around the walls of this rectangular room were some small displays, there was a door to the side of the bridge that read ‘captains quarters’.
He tried to open the door, however it had been locked out, instead he tried the pilots console, Lathiel needed to know where this ship was going. Hopefully the pilot had already plotted a flight plan into his console.
Lathiel accessed the console and found that indeed he had, this transport was heading to Barnards star to pick up medical supplies from a small facility there, and would be departing delta base at 09:00 hours tomorrow morning. It’s a shame it will never make it there, he thought with an evil smile.
The Liberty was hurtling toward Earth at plasma factor 6.5, the ships maximum speed was plasma factor 7, however Kinraid had advised Michael that if they attempted that speed, the Liberties already weakened hull could start to give way.
“ So, how does this morphos x drug work?” Michael asked Dalvosh.
“ It is the result of several years of research in perfecting the ultimate assassin. It is secreted by a gland contained within Lathiels rib cage, it causes him extreme pain whenever it is used, but allows him to assume any humanoid form at will.”
“ So he could walk right into this command centre and change into any one of us.”
“ Yes, however he would have to have some form of physical contact first.”
“ Like what?”
“ A pat on the back, a handshake, that sort of thing,” Dalvosh replied. “However he does have one weakness.”
“ Which is?” Vargev asked after listening in to the conversation.
“ His basic D.N. A structure remains Krenaran, and it can be picked up by any scanner capable of scanning D.N. A sequences.”
“ Like a Solarian scanner,” Eldathar cut in.
“ Exactly, that was why the Solarians present at Perseus picked him up,” Dalvosh said nodding.
“ Lucky for us we ‘ave a few of those Solarian scanners aboard,” Kinraid said.
“ What’s our status?” Michael asked.
“ The ship’s still in a bad way, te’ damage we took getting into orbit will have to be repaired before we set down on Earth otherwise we will simply burn up in te’ atmosphere,” Kinraid replied.
“ We’ll have to make repairs on-route, we don’t have time to stop at a repair facility.” Michael said as he pressed a control on his wrist comm. “Alexander to Logameier.”
“ Logameier here captain, I’m a little busy right now, what’s up?” replied the chief engineer, who was busily strengthening the weakened bulkheads around the destroyed torpedo launcher.
“ Can you re-configure some Solarian scanners to be usable by humans?”
“ I’ll have a couple of the Solarian technicians take a look at them. Might I ask what for?” Logameier asked rubbing sweat from his brow, it was still warm in here from the heat build up after leaving the atmosphere. He really didn’t need more tasks right now, it was taking every last minute of his time keeping the Liberty from falling apart.
“ It’s going to help us hunt some assassin,” Michael smiled.
“ I like the sound of that captain, I’ll get some Solarian techs right on it.”
“ Good man,” with that, Michael ended the transmission.
“ Anything else I need to know about?” Michael asked, his hopes buoyed a little now that they had a way to track this little chameleon.
“ Apart from the fact that Lathiel is lethal with both close combat and ranged weapons, and can melt into the background virtually anywhere, I can’t think of a thing,” Dalvosh replied with a hint of sarcasm, he knew the humans were out of their league in dealing with Lathiel right now.
“ Riiight, nothing to worry about then,” Michael replied, his hopes cruelly dashed again.
Vargev restrained a slight chuckle, he was actually beginning to like this Dalvosh. However on second thought, nope, he hated all Krenarans equally.
“ Can’t this thing go any bloody faster?” Michael asked, wanting to vent his frustration at something.
“ Sorry captain, not without further damage to the ship,” Eldathar replied from the pilot’s chair.
The Liberty continued hurtling through the star-lit blackness of deep space.
Next morning Lathiel awoke early, he had stowed away in a dark disused area of the cargo hold, between some unknown crates. This frail Terran body ached from sleeping on the cold, hard floor. He slowly got to his feet, his eyes had developed a kind of crusty, powdery deposit in the corners either side of his Terran ‘nose’. He had no idea what it was but knew that it irritated him, and so he rubbed at them with his finger, at once this annoying deposit had cleared.
He felt lethargic, and shook his head to release the fuzzy feeling, gradually feeling a little better and slightly more alert.
Making his way out of the cargo hold, he found that the ships crew or prey as he liked to think of them, had returned as they nonchalantly strode down the corridor past him completely oblivious to the danger he represented. Although his appearance altering drug caused him immense pain, he liked being able to pass unnoticed, being able to slip through virtually any net, all he had to do was kill someone, something which came very easily to him.