Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (56 page)

“Is this data correct Peter?” Toormis asked and turned
to face him.

“I don’t know why I did that,” he said. What does it
mean?”

“It’s a tactical battle chart. Those little dots
there,” Toormis said pointing, “are Battle Cruisers and those are squadrons of
Starfighters. This is a tactical offensive against…” Toormis’s face lost its
colour as his military trained eyes followed the support vessels and troop
transports.

“Against what?”
Cassy asked impatiently looking at the screen but not
understanding it. Toormis kept looking intently at the charts.

The Administrator scanned the screen and worked his arm
console. He suddenly flopped down quite hard in his seat and stared at Peter.
“What is it?” Peter said pointing at the screen.

They all looked at the Administrator. “It’s the
Trigealian Interventional plan and schedule of conquest of all the Confederate
Houses.”

Toormis sat down as well. He stared at the screen and
then sat upright as he read the data relating to Zion. It simply said – Irrimus
Zion Base - isolate. “This base is to be isolated? From what, how?” he said.

“When?”
Peter asked.

“Don’t you know?” Cassy interjected. “You created
this… this thing!” she said pointing at the screen.

Peter looked blankly at her. “No I didn’t!”

“Wait!” Toormis said loudly. “Administrator, you said
the Confederacy was at war with an invader. They aren’t on this chart or any
part of the tactical offensive against the Confederacy. No Trigealian defences.
Something’s not right here. Maybe it’s all part of Peter’s imagination.”

The Administrator worked his arm console and studied
the data. “I have no reason not to believe the communication from my colleague.
It was confirmed by communication traffic between Space Command and the
intervention teams on Irrimus. They have now lost two Battle Cruisers with all hands
and the Trigeals caught one of the ships that did it.”

“That’s pretty secret stuff to have as general
communications traffic.” Toormis said still not believing the Administrator’s
source of information.

The Administrator brought up the transcript of
Torquay’s conversation about the Trigeals and a theory rapidly formed in his
mind. “Look at what it isn’t”, Torquay had told him, the Administrator thought.
What isn’t the Trigeals? What they aren’t doing, he thought.

“We need Torquay,” the Administrator stated. “He can
decipher this. I have a theory but I can easily be wrong.”

“Who’s Torquay?” Peter asked.

“He’s the one who found you and helped when you were
unconscious,” The Administrator answered but thought quickly and added, “he’s
the one who could help you with those thought’s Peter. He knows about such
things.”

“Where is he now?” Peter asked.

“He was in the transport in a suspended animation
cylinder. He was wounded in the Beclin raid and was taken by the raiders,” said
the Administrator. Peter looked stunned by the news.

“What theory Administrator?” Toormis asked now tearing
his eyes off the screen.

“It may be totally wrong Toormis?” The Administrator
answered.

“So might this,” Toormis replied jerking his thumb
toward the screen.

The Administrator instantly agreed with him and
shrugged his shoulders but told them his theory anyway. “Well, the Trigeals may
have used this Confederate invasion by alien beings to wipe the slate clean of
the Houses now becoming too difficult to control. Advanced technologies have
began to dominate above all else and the Houses don’t trust each other. They
seem to set be on a course of self destruction not only because of the Trigeals
but because of their own destructive technologies. Torquay did mention, unless
you introduce compassion into high technology it all goes down a very dark
road,” the Administrator said reflecting upon Torquay’s words. 

The Administrator looked at his silent companions and
continued. “No doubt other beings exist but maybe they aren’t directly invading
us, just the Trigeals, perhaps they see them as a threat to their own
survival.” He looked at Toormis’s face screw up in confusion. “No! Think about
this… The Trigeals know the Houses have been building up android armies and pilotless
attack craft for some time. It was no secret Lord Ambrae was the chief
negotiator for the Emperor between the Houses for some sort of control on this
build up of military inventory. It was only a matter of time before
war broke out between the Houses with or without Trigealian consent
with that much hardware in secret storage. The destruction created by such a
war would render the Confederacy useless for the Trigeals. The use of T334’s
during such a war would be counterproductive. They mainly help prevent
conflicts.”

“Oh boy!
Toormis interjected as he now followed the
Administrator’s line of thinking. “Both Lord Ambrae and the Emperor knew the
Confederacy was heading towards an uncontrolled war. Lord Ambrae always said so
and he also said Volen would probably start it out of greed or vengeance or
some other stupid reason.”

“Exactly, Volen are not noted for thinking about the
consequences of their actions,” the Administrator agreed. He suddenly thought
of something – “Earth! They recently developed nuclear weapons and used them in
a war. If Volen traders or smugglers acquire them from there and distribute
them within the Confederacy, the effects would be catastrophic. They probably
already have and now the Trigeals have found out or… OH NO!” the Administrator
gasped in horror, “the Trigeals have possibly allowed it to assist in their
intervention of the Great Houses.”

“Nuclear fusion would mutilate the minds and genetic
codes of billions!” Toormis said in disgust.

“The Trigeals don’t care about that. They do that
anyway... don’t
they
?” The Administrator replied
quietly, realising once again the dominance and brutality of the Trigeals.

“Hey wait you two!” Cassy said annoyed. “Is any of
this true?”

“Where did that come from,” the Administrator said
pointing to the charts on the screen and looked sympathetically at Cassy,
“Irrimus was just the first.”

Cassy went silent and remorseful, tears welling in her
eyes. Toormis looked at her and then the Administrator. He thought of getting
angry at the Administrator but withheld it. “What he said is true Cassy.
Irrimus is in Trigealian hands. I think the other Houses will follow.”

“We need to leave this place or we’ll end up living
with the Shihone,” Peter added.

“What about those people if the base gets occupied,”
Cassy said looking at each of them.

“Nothing much we can do I’m afraid,” the Administrator
replied but thoughtfully added, “the eyes are too valuable for the night vision
industry for them to be abandoned. I am sure when the present conflicts are
resolved trading will resume.”

Peter disappeared from the ship. He went to the
washing facilities and quickly washed. He put on a clean pair of pilot fatigue
coveralls and packed all his skins, knives and guns in a large bag he found. He
carried them onboard the ship, found a cabin close to the Bridge and reported
to Toormis. The others had all showered and were in space flight coveralls.

“What can I do to facilitate leaving this place
quickly,” Peter asked Toormis.

Toormis looked up from the console he was programming,
“any good with computers?”

“No,”

“You did pretty good getting that worked out,” Toormis
said indicating the charts still on the main screen. “Don’t know how you did it
hey?”

“No.”

“OK, why you don’t read the data on the engineer’s
console over there,” Toormis said pointing to it with an electronic testing
probe. “It’s a schematic of this ship with explanations of the different
compartments and their interactions with the structural integrity of the hull.”

Peter looked at the screen and nodded his agreement
and walked over and sat down. He looked at the screen and diagrams. At first
the symbols meant nothing and then they were obvious. He saw the relationship
between the ships drawing and the symbols. His speed increased and he became
aware he was reading symbols he couldn’t recall ever learning. The keys and
symbols on the console made sense to him and he began touching the keys in
correct sequences and data flashed on the screen. He looked closely at the
screen and couldn’t understand why he had to touch it for it to do something.
It should just do it, he thought.

“Toormis, Lord Ambrae put the program in the
educational facilities,” Peter said but didn’t know why he said it.

Toormis dropped his electronic probe and looked at
Peter in total surprise.
“What?!”

“I just had the thought that Lord Ambrae put the
program in the educational facilities of Irrimus. All of them, schools,
medical, research, military, learning establishments, universities, anywhere
there is a computer which is used to teach official studies. Seems like a
tactical move of some sort to me. What do you make of it?” Peter stated.

“What program, to do what? What have you found there?”
Toormis blurted out and ran over to see what was on the screen Peter was
reading. It was just data and diagrams on the ship’s structure.

“Don’t know, I just don’t know. Oh! I did have a
thought when that Beclin Chief tried to knife me. It helps Cassy get what is
hers. Do you know what that means?” Peter said starting to become frustrated
with not knowing what he is talking about.

The Administrator was leaning against a bulkhead at
the back of the Bridge the whole time Peter had been talking and said, “Lord
Ambrae knew Irrimus was going to be intervened and set up some sort of
administrative rescue program. Cassy is next in line for the head of the House
of Irrimus. His son is a member of the Trigealian Regiment and isn’t allowed to
have civilian duties,”

“Very smart to hide it in the educational system,
those computers are linked to every other system in the Confederacy.
Administratively those computers and systems are literally everywhere.
But what of the T334’s and the Regiment?”
Toormis asked.

“That’s why Lord Ambrae eventually got involved with
the Emperor. A lot of things were already in place. The incident at the Academy
just set everything off. If there was a possible weakness to the Regiment he
had a system to back up any attack against or from the Trigeals; after all, his
only son was a member.” The Administrator said more in thinking out loud than
in telling Toormis what it meant.

“But what does it mean to us and what can we do with
that information?” Toormis said.

“At least there is a hope of regaining Irrimus. Well,
after the threat of the T334’s is eliminated.”

“That’s a little easier said than done Administrator.”

“What is Toormis,” Cassy said climbing the ladder up
to the Bridge from below.

Toormis didn’t want to upset Cassy with news of her
father’s program, it may not exist. There was enough mystery getting off Zion,
let alone where to go. I’ll tell her about it when we are alone, he decided.
“Getting off this planet Cassy.
Are you ready for
departure?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. How’s the ship?” she asked.

“Her name is Traveller and she ready. I just hope the
pilot is…”

“Very funny Toormis,” Cassy remarked nervously.

“Now is as good a time as any,” Toormis said and sat
in the pilot’s seat. “Everyone to their seats and strap yourselves in. This
could be a bumpy ride.”

“What about the magnetic beam?” The Administrator
asked pulling his straps tight.

“I’ve programmed it to activate upon the dock doors
opening and shutting off when we leave the atmosphere. I’ve also encrypted the
signal so we can turn it back on from the above the atmosphere at a later time.
That gives us the option of returning here in the future.  The magnetic
beam turning on and off will leave a scannable signature but there is nothing I
can do about that.” Toormis said and flicked a number of switches. The ship
vibrated as the engines displaced matter in their cores. An audible whine was
being generated as the ship automatically sensed the gaseous atmosphere and initiated
and fired thrusters.